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A/1LBUR   F.   CRAFTS. 

^^^^O^c^O/y  /frfidga&S?^: 


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NUMBERS  1  TO  79. 


PREVIOUS  numbers  of  this  LIBRARY  were  known  by  the  name  STANDARD  SERIES. 
A  list  of  these  79  books  will  be  found  on  the  3d  page  of  the  cover  of  this  volume.  They 
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SUCCESSFUL  MEN  OF  TO-DAY. 

By  WILBUR  F.  CRAFTS. 

The  testimony,  facts,  and  incidents  in  the  lives  and  experiences  of  five  hundred  of 
the  most  prominent  men  of  America,  on  the  question  of  Success  in  life,  have  been 
collected  by  the  author  of  this  book.  The  information  obtained  comes  from  Statesmen, 
Generals,  Merchants,  Educators,  Doctors,  Lawyers,  Judges,  Editors,  Manufacturers, 
etc.,  and  ha*  been  obtained  with  great  care  and  diligence.  The  facts  which  the  author 
has  collected  have  served  as  texts  from  which  he  educes  useful  and  striking  thoughts 
and  lessons,  and  these  are  given  in  a  style  so  fresh  and  racy  that  the  reader  will  never 
tire  over  the  pages.  We  do  not  find  a  dry  or  uninteresting  paragraph  in  the  whole 
book.  It  ought  especially  to  be  read  by  every  young  man  in  the  United  States.  It  is 
meant  for  them  particularly,  while,  at  the  same  time,  parents  should  diligently  ponder 
the  truths  it  puts  in  array  before  them.  The  book  possesses  all  the  charm  of  biography 
of  distinguished  men,  and  abounds  in  witty,  humorous,  and  telling  anecdotes  and 
illustrations. 


NTJJvIBERS. 

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1883  Series).  Price,  25  cents. 

SCIENCE  IN  SHORT  CHAPTERS.  BY  W.  MATTIEU  WILLIAMS,  F.R.S.A., 
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AMERICAN  HUMORISTS.  BY  R.  II.  HAWEIS.  No.  82,  STANDARD  LIBRARY 
(No.  3,  1883  Series).-  Price,  15  cents. 

LIVES  OF  ILLUSTRIOUS  SHOEMAKERS.  BY  WILLIAM  EDWARD  WINKS. 
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FLOTSAM  AND  JETSAM.  BY  THOMAS  GIBSON  BOWLES.  No.  84,  STANDARD 
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THE  HIGHWAYS  OF  LITERATURE  ;  OR,  WHAT  TO  READ  AND  How  TO  READ. 
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(No.  6,  1883  Series).  Price,  15  cents. 

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THE  ESSAYS  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT.  COMPLETE.  Collected  and  arranged,  with 
an  Introduction  on  her  "Analysis  of  Motives."  Bv  NATHAN  SHEPPARD.  No.  87, 
STANDARD  LIBRARY  (No.  8,..1883  Series).  Price,  25  cents. 

AN  HOUR  WITH  CHARLOTTE  BRONTE ;  OR,  FLOWERS  FROM  A  YORKSHIRE 
MOOR.  BY  LAURA  C.  HOLLOWAY.  No.  88,  STANDARD  LIBRARY  (No.  9,  1883  Series). 
Price,  15  cents. 

SAM  HOBART.  BY  JUSTIN  D.  FULTON,  D.D.  No.  80,  STANDARD  LIBRARY  (No. 
10,  1883'Series).  Price,  25. cenlG. 

'  From  hundreds  of  periodicals  in  all  sections  of  the  country  we  have  received  the  most 
enthusiastic  testimonials,  like  the  following  from  the  Danbury  News,  Danbury,  Conn.  : 

"  Had  there  been  an  Act  of  Congress  empowering  FUNK  &  WA  GNALLS,  the  "New 
York  Publisher*,  1o  drive  out  bad  literature  by  substituting  good,  at  a  price  irithin  the 
reach  of  all,  the  firm  could  not  have  done  better  than  it  is  doing,  .  .  .  There  i?  (be 
AMERICAN  HUMORIST,  the  last  issue,  printed  in  dear,  but' not  staring  type,  on  fine 
paper.  It  contains  one  hundred  and  eighty  pages  and  sells  for  15  cents—the  prict  of  a 
good  cigar! " 


BUSINESS    MEN. 


OF  TO-DiY 


AND 


WHAT  THEY  SAY  OF  SUCCESS 


BASED   ON   FACTS   AND   OPINIONS    GATHERED    BY    LETTERS 
AND  PERSONAL  INTERVIEWS  FROM  FIVE  HUNDRED 
PROMINENT  MEN,    AND   ON   MANY  MORE 
PUBLISHED   SKETCHES 


WILBUR  F.VCRAETS,  A.M., 

AUTHOB  or  "HEROES  AND  HOLIDAYS,"  '"RESCUE  or  CHILD-SOUL,"  "PLAES  USES 

OF  THE  BLACKBOARD,"   "  THE  COMING  MAN  IS  THE  PRESENT  CHILD,"  ETC. 


The  heights  by  great  men  reached  and  kept, 
Were  not  attained  by  sudden  flight, 


, 

But  they,  while  their  companions  slept, 
Were  tolling  upward  in  the  night."  —  LONGFKLLOW. 

ays  of  employing  your  ftcthritle* 
,  D.D. 


"  In  studying  others'  lives,  you  will  find  man 
that  you  never  thought  of  before."—  C.  S.  ROBINSON 

"  I  cannct  even  hear  of  personal  vigor  of  any  kind,  great  power  of  perform- 
ance,  without  fresh  resolution.  This  Is  the  moral  of  biography;  yet  it  is  hard  for 
departed  men  to  touch  the  quick  like  our  own  companions,  whose  names  may  not 
last  so  long."-EMKR30N. 

"If  th  a  history  of  our  citizens  of  wealth  were  written,  we  should  find  that  fully 
three  fourth,  have  risen  from  comparatively  .mall  beginning!  to  their  present  posf- 
»ion.  —  rioN*  WM.  lu*  DoDGj^MM^BHon^Mta^ 


FUNK    &    WAGNALLS 
10  AND  12  DEY  STREET 


0.7? 


s^w 

Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1883,  by 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS, 
In  the  Office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress  at  Washington,  D.  C. 


TO 

YOUNG  MEN, 

72V  WHOSE  OPENING  CAREERS  I  HA  VE 
A  GREAT  INTEREST, 

THIS  VOLUME  18  DEDICATED 

IN  THE  HOPE 

THAT  IT  MA  T  HELP  SOME  OF  THEM  TO 
TRUE  SUCCESS. 


INTEODUOTIOIfr. 

THESE  papers  on  Success  were  originally  delivered  as  address- 
es to  young  men.  I  have  not  thought  it  necessary  to  change 
their  form,  but  would  rather  cherish  the  thought  that  at  the 
firesides  where  this  book  is  read  I  am  still  speaking  to  young 
men  in  friendly  conversation  about  the  great  problems  of  life. 

I  do  not  for  a  moment  expect  to  agree  with  all  my  readers 
on  matters  of  opinion.  The  man  who  seeks  a  paper  or  a  book 
or  a  speaker  that  merely  says  "  Yes,  yes,"  to  his  own  views 
had  better  talk  to  his  mirror.  It  is  a  rule  with  some  of  our 
great  men  to  converse  much  with  those  who  hold  different 
views  from  themselves,  in  the  hope  of  learning  something  new, 
or  at  least  of  understanding  their  opponents  better. 

This  book,  however,  deals  chiefly  with  facts.  If  the  reader's 
ready-made  theories  do  not  fit  the  facts  he  will  need  to  meas- 
ure the  facts  for  new  custom-made  theories.  It  will  not  do  to 
say  that  the  coat  is  the  proper  size  but  the  boy  is  too  small. 

My  cordial  thanks  arc  hereby  tendered  to  the  hundreds  of 
our  busiest  men  who  have  replied  to  my  inquiries  *  *  for  the 
sake  of  the  young  men  ;"  also  to  Harper's  Weekly  for  the  use 
of  its  portrait  of  President  White. 

In  another  book,  "The  Rescue  of  Child-Soul,"  I  have 
published  significant  incidents  from  the  lives  of  fifty  great  men 
of  the  past.  To  these  are  now  added,  in  this  book,  sketches  of 
the  boyhood  of  prominent  living  men  and  their  steps  up  the 
ladder  of  success. 

It  is  my  earnest  hope  that  these  facts  may  afford  young  men 
some  data  toward  a  chart  of  life's  voyage,  by  showing  some  of 
the  rocks  to  be  avoided  and  the  channel  of  safety. 

WILBUR  F.  CRAFTS. 
BEOOKLYN,  N.  Y.,  JUNE,  1883. 


CONTENTS. 


PAOE 

INTRODUCTION 7 

I.  CHOOSING  A  BIRTHPLACE 13 

II.  PARENTS  AND  POVERTY 22 

III.  WILL  AND  WORK 31 

IV.  ENVIRONMENT  AND  CHARACTER 39 

V.  COMMERCIAL  COURAGE 47 

VI.  BUSINESS  MAXIMS,  BAD  AND  GOOD 55 

VII.  THE  WATCHWORDS  OP  OUR  LEADERS 66 

VIII.  WHAT  CHURCHES  MAY  LEARN  FROM  COMMERCE  ...  76 

IX.  BUSINESS  MAXIMS  APPLIED  TO  CHURCH  WORK 86 

X.  Is  IT  NECESSARY  TO  BE  HONEST  IN  ORDER  TO  BE 

POOR? 94 

XI.  MONEY  AND  MORALS 105 

XII.  THE  BUSINESS  MEN  OF  THE  BIBLE. 112 

XIII.  "CAN  BUSINESS  BE  CONDUCTED  SUCCESSFULLY  ON 

STRICT  CHRISTIAN  PRINCIPLES  ?" 116 

XIV.  COUNTERFEIT  SUCCESS 126 

XV.  WHAT  SUCCESSFUL  MEN  SAY  OF  SUCCESS 137 . 

XVI.  WHAT  SUCCESSFUL  MEN  SAY  OF  THE  FAILURE  OF 

OTHERS 151 

XVII.  "  POOR  IN  ABUNDANCE." 159 

XVIII.  How  TO  FAIL 168 

XIX.  THE  BRIGHT  SIDE  OF  FAILURE 177 

XX.  STEALING  AS  A  FINE  ART,  AND  SOME  OF  ITS  MOD- 
ERN ARTISTS 181 

XXI.  POLITE  PILFERING 191 

XXII.  LABOR  AND  LUCK 209 

XXIII.  RELATION  OF  WORK  TO  RANK 219 

APPENDIX  OF  135  SPECIMEN  REPLIES 225 

TOPICAL  INDEX.  . .  261 


LIST   OF  ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PORTRAITS  : 

John  Wanamaker Frontispiece. 

Clem.  Studebaker " 

Lewis  Miller " 

Orange  Judd .' " 

Hon.  Geo.  F.  Edmunds 30 

"      Alex.  H.  Stephens 30 

"      Wm.  Windom 30 

"      John  Sherman 30 

Judge  Noah  Davis 65 

Geo.  G.  Reynolds 65 

Lyman  Abbott,  D.D 65 

E.  P.  Roe 65 

Joseph  Cook 104 

Hon.  Wm.  E.  Dodge 104 

Gen.  Neal  Dow 104 

Hon.  J.  P.  St.  John 104 

Mark  Hopkins,  D.D 141 

C.  W.  Eliot,  LL.D 141 

Hon.  A.  D.  White,  LL.D 141 

"     J.  H.  Seelye,  LL.D 141 

"  RICHES  TAKE  WINGS  " 223 

AUTOGRAPHS  . .  224 


AT  no  time  in  the  world's  history,  probably,  has  there  been  so 
general  an  interest  in  biography  as  that  which  has  been  shown 
during  the  past  ten  or  fifteen  years.  .  .  .  Just  here  lies  a 
weighty  obligation  upon  those  who  write,  and  those  who  read,  about 
the  lives  of  men  and  women  who  have  done  something  in  the  world. 
It  is  not  enough  for  us  to  know  what  they  have  done  ;  it  belongs  to 
us  to  discover  the  why  of  their  works  and  ways,  and  to  get  some 
personal  benefit  from  the  analysis  of  their  successes  and  failures 
.  .  .  Why  was  this  man  great  ?  What  general  intentions  and  what 
special  traits  led  him  to  success  ?  What  ideal  stood  before  him,  and 
by  what  means  did  he  seek  to  attain  it  ?  Or,  on  the  other  hand, 
what  unworthy  purpose,  what  lack  of  conscience  and  religious  sense, 
what  unsettled  method  and  feeble  endeavor,  stood  in  the  way  of  the 
"  man  of  genius"  and  his  possible  achievements  ? — Henry  Clay  Trum- 
bull,  D.D. 


I. 

»  \ 

CHOOSING  A  BIRTHPLACE. 

The  air  we  breathe,  the  house  in  which  we  dwell,  the  very  way  in 
which  it  fronts  the  sun,  the  degree  of  light  and  of  shade  that  falls 
upon  us  with  the  flying  hours,  all  weave  their  delicate  influences 
into  the  tissues  of  our  being. — CHAPIN. 

FOR  the  sake  of  the  young  men  whom  I  might  be  able  to 
reach  from  the  platform  and  through  the  press,  I  have  gathered 
facts  and  opinions  in  regard  to  the  causes  of  Success  and 
Failure,  from  a  large  number  of  the  prominent  men  of  to-day. 

In  harvesting  these  golden  statistics  from  the  fields  of  ripe 
experience,  I  have  used,  as  a  reaper,  printed  circulars  contain- 
ing the  following 

INQUIRIES  : 

1.  Was  your  boyhood,  up  to  fourteen  years  of  age,  spent  in 
the  country,  in  a  village,  or  in  a  city  ? 

2.  In  either  case,  were  you  accustomed  to  engage  in  some 
regular  work,  when  out  of  school,  either  in  the  way  of  self- 
help  or  for  your  parents  ? 

3.  At  what  age  did  you  begin  business  life  or  undertake 
self-support  ? 

4.  Did  you  use  tobacco  previous  to  the  age  of  sixteen  ? 

5.  What  maxims  or  watchwords,  if  any,  have  had  a  strong 
influence  on  your  life  and  helped  to  your  success  ? 

6.  What  do  you  consider  essential  elements  of  success  for  a 
young  man  entering  upon  such  a  business  or  profession  as 
yours  ? 

Y.   What,  in  your  observation,  have  been  the  chief  causes  of 


14  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OJ?   TO-DAY. 

the  numerous  failures  in  life  of  commercial  and  professional 
men  ? 

8.  Are  you  a  church  member  ? 

Replies  to  these  questions  have  been  gathered,  by  letters  and 
personal  interviews,  from  about  five  hundred  persons,  and  the 
list  has  been  increased  from  published  sketches. 

Of  these  persons,  many  are  widely  known,  and  the  others 
hold  leading  positions  in  their  own  communities  as  proprietors 
of  long-established  and  successful  business  enterprises,  or  as 
tried  and  proved  members  of  secular  professions.  The  list 
does  not  include  ministers,  except  in  a  few  cases  where  clergy- 
men have  become  eminent  authors,  editors,  or  publishers. 

The  largest  number  of  replies  are  from  New  York,  Chicago, 
and  Washington,  but  every  section  of  the  country  has  been 
heard  from,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  replies  fairly 
represent  the  successful  men  of  the  country — meaning  those 
who  have  won  both  influence  and  respect  to  an  unusual  degree. 

It  should  be  said  that  most  of  my  correspondents  disclaim  the 
title  of  "  successful  men,"  but  reply  to  the  questions  "  for 
the  sake  of  the  young  men" — the  "  Open  Sesame  "  by  which 
I  have  obtained  these  golden  opinions  from  men  already  over- 
tasked. 

I  did  not  send  the  questions  to  the  survivor  of  the  "  James 
Boys,"  nor  to  the  Eastern  jay,  nor  to  the  escaped  convicts  of 
the  whiskey  ring.  No  amount  of  money  can  make  a  highway 
robber  or  any  other  kind  successful.  If  "  a  fair  exchange  is 
no  robbery, ' '  what  shall  we  call  an  exchange  of  bullets,  or  bets, 
or  poisons,  for  a  fortune  ?  Every  promissory  note  keeps  be- 
fore us  the  great  commercial  truth  that  only  a  fair  exchange  of 
money  for  "  value  received  "  is  legitimate  business.  A  bet, 
whether  on  a  fast  horse  or  the  price  of  his  grain  next  month,  is 
not  a  fair  exchange  for  a  thousand  or  a  million  dollars,  and  so 
can  not  be  said  to  be  "  no  robbery."  Betting  is  a  brother  of 
burglary.  It  is  well  and  truly  said  by  Henry  Ward  Beccher  : 
"  He  who  is  not  willing  to  give,  either  in  thought,  in  skill,  in 


CHOOSING    A    BIKTHPLACE.  15 

convenience,  by  distribution,  a  fair  equivalent  for  the  money 
which  he  lays  up,  wants  to  steal  it."  Even  millions  of  plunder 
does  not  constitute  success,  which  must  include  a  good  name.  «£- 

The  ambitious  and  covetous  Ahab  murdered  Naboth  to  get 
possession  of  his  vineyard.  The  ambitious  and  covetous  Napo- 
leon murdered  thousands  of  Naboths  to  get  possession  of  their 
vineyards.  Was  Napoleon  less  a  murderer  than  Ahab  because 
one  killed  by  retail  and  the  other  by  wholesale  ?  New  York 
has  Napoleons  of  wholesale  robbery.  Does  multiplying  rob- 
bery subtract  it  ?  The  excess  of  a  virtue  is  a  vice,  bat  is  the 
excess  of  a  vice  a  virtue  ?  Or  is  it  a  virtue  to  make  a  fortune 
out  of  people's  vices  ?  Selling  well-known  incitements  to  vice 
and  crime,  either  in  the  shape  of  alcoholic  beverages  or  de- 
moralizing literature,  is  no  better  than  selling  burglars'  tools. 
The  public  are  beginning  to  see  this  and  say  it,  and  so  the 
liquor  dealers,  through  the  New  York  Herald,  recently  cried 
out  for  a  law  that  should  make  their  business  respectable.  As 
well  try  to  get  Judas  canonized  and  the  devil  vindicated. 
"  Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more,  but  rather  let  him  labor." 

I  have  aimed  to  gather  statistics  only  from  those  who  have 
at  least  this  much  of  true  success,  that  they  have  acquired  what- 
ever position  or  fame  or  money  they  possess  by  ' '  fair  exchange' ' 
of  useful  commodities  or  valuable  services. 

In  one  of  these  papers  (an  exception  in  this  respect  to  all  the 
others),  a  prominent  judge  and  statesman,  in  answering  the 
question  as  to  elements  of  success,  says,  "  Chance  and  circum- 
stances  do  the  most. ' '  In  this  remark  we  recognize  two  old 
foes  masked  in  new  faces — the  Philistine  theology,  "  It  was  a 
chance  that  did  it,"  and  the  devil's  proverb,  "  Circumstances 
make  men."  That  is  not  true,  as  I  have  the  documents  to 
prove.  It  is  the  worst  kind  of  a  lie — a  half  truth.  It  has  just 
enough  truth  to  make  it  dangerous,  as  a  wolf  in  sheep's  cloth- 
ing. Let  us  examine  this  fleecy  wool,  that  not  only  hides  a  de- 
vouring error  but  is  also  pulled  over  the  eyes  of  young  men  to 
prevent  them  from  seeing  that  no  unfavorable  circumstances 
need  keep  them  from  true  success,  and  that  no  favoring  cir- 


10  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

cumstances  are  likely  to  drift  them  into  it  without  their  own 
earnest  efforts. 

What  seems  like  "  chance"  has  made  Presidents  by  pistol 
shots  and  millionaires  by  mining  discoveries.  Of  the  two 
richest  men  in  the  world — the  wealthiest  of  the  Rothschilds, 
with  his  two  hundred  millions,  and  Mackey  with  his  I  do  not 
know  how  many  millions — the  last  represents  sudden  wealth 
gained  by  fortunate  discoveries  in  the  mines,  while  the  first 
stands  for  the  slower  accumulation  of  industry  and  honesty. 
But  if  instead  of  two  we  should  take  the  world's  two  thousand 
richest  men,  excluding  those  who  have  simply  received  wealth 
by  inheritance,  we  should  find  that  fortune  seldom  favors  fools. 
Folly  and  Fortune  are  not  often  or  long  in  partnership.  For- 
tune speedily  withdraws  with  all  the  capital.  Where  you  find 
honey  you  may  be  sure  busy  bees  have  been  at  work. 

And  yet,  as  one  of  our  foremost  Brooklyn  judges  intimates, 
surroundings  and  what  is  called  "  luck"  do  have  some  in- 
fluence on  success.  The  statistics  I  have  gathered  show  clearly 
that  circumstances  at  least  help  to  make  men.  For  instance,  I 
find  by  the  answer  to  the  first  question,  that  while  only  forty- 
seven  per  cent  of  our  population  of  working  age  reside  in  the 
country  districts,  they  furnish  fifty-seven  per  cent  of  our  suc- 
cessful men,  while  the  cities,  with  twenty  per  cent  of  the  popula- 
tion, furnish  seventeen  per  cent.  A  very  large  majority  of  our 
famous  men  were  farmers'  boys.  As  the  cities  fall  three  per 
cent  below  their  quota,  and  the  country  is  ten  pe£  cent  above 
its  ratio,  it  appears  that  the  country  averages  thirteen  per  cent 
above  the  cities  in  the  proportion  of  its  boys  who  become 
eminently  successful.  A  writer  in  the  Contemporary  Review 
calls  attention  to  the  fact  that  very  few  of  the  prominent  men 
of  New  York  City  were  born  in  the  city.  The  great  majority 
came  from  the  country.  Rev.  Washington  Gladden  ascertained, 
by  personal  investigation,  that  nearly  all  the  leading  men  of 
Springfield  were  country  born  and  bred,  although  statistics  on 
a  larger  scale  are  more  favorable  to  cities.  Even  in  Boston, 
considered  the  place  of  all  the  world  to  be  born  in,  a  large  ma- 


CHOOSING    A    BIRTHPLACE.  17 

jority  of  the  leading  merchants  and  professional  men  came  from 
the  country. 

The  first  conclusion  from  these  facts  is  that  a  man  who 
wishes  to  succeed  should  select  a  country  farm  for  his  birth- 
place, and  thus  enroll  himself  among  such  illustrious  farmer 
boys  as  Senator  Edmunds,  General  Logan,  General  Howard, 
Alexander  H.  Stephens,  Anthony  Comstock,  Orange  Judd, 
John  Jacob  Astor,  Elihu  Burritt,  John  Wanamaker,  Lewis 
Miller,  Jacob  Estey,  William  E.  Dodge,  D.  L.  Moody,  Joseph 
Cook,  Mark  Hopkins,  and  Henry  Martyn  Dexter.  Our  statis- 
tics suggest  that  the  "  Fresh  Air  Fund  "  should  be  increased 
in  its  scope  and  amount,  to  enable  the  Tribune  and  "  The 
Children's  Aid  Society"  to  carry  out  on  a  larger  scale  their 
plan  of  transporting  city  boys  to  permanent  homes  in  the  coun- 
try. A  country  environment  of  pure  air,  plain  food,  regular 
out-door  work,  early  sleep,  and  freedom  from  cigarettes  and 
saloons,  gives  the  farmer  boy  an  advantage  of  thirteen  per 
cent  when,  in  young  manhood,  he  comes  to  the  city  to  enter 
upon  a  commercial  or  professional  life. 

Cigarettes  in  boyhood  are  about  as  useful  in  building  up  a 
strong  body  as  dynamite  would  be  in  building  a  home.  "  No 
cigarettes  for  boys"  is  a  sign  in  one  drug  store.  Why  not  in 
all  ?  It  is  a  law  in  Mississippi  and  in  our  military  schools.  It 
ought  to  be  on  the  statute-books  of  every  State  and  among  the 
rules  of  every  school  and  home.  Every  boy  who  would  suc- 
ceed should  make  and  enforce  such  a  prohibitory  tobacco  law, 
for  himself  at  least. 

Our  successful  men  did  not  feed  themselves  in  boyhood  on 
cigarettes  and  late  suppers,  with  loafing  as  their  only  labor,  and 
midnight  parties  for  their  regular  evening  dissipation.  Such 
city- trained  bodies  often  give  out  when  the  strain  comes  in 
business,  while  the  sound  body  and  mind  and  morals  of  the 
man  from  the  country  hold  on  and  hold  out. 

The  replies  I  have  received  show  that  four  fifths  of  the  men 
who  now  fill  positions  of  large  responsibility  in  our  land  did 
not  use  tobacco  before  they  were  sixteen  years  of  age,  and  even 


18  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

those  who  did,  with  three  exceptions,  mention  the  fact  with 
reg'ret.  Whoever  may  defend  the  use  of  tobacco  by  full-grown 
men,*  no  one  advocates  its  use  for  growing  boys. 

Several  years  ago  Dr.  Decaisne,  one  of  the  most  eminent 
members  of  the  Societe  d' Hygiene  in  Paris,  investigated  the 
influence  of  tobacco  on  the  circulation  of  boys  from  nine  to 
fifteen  years  of  age,  and  discovered  that  not  only  did  it  pro- 
duce palpitation  of  the  heart  and  intermittency  of  pulse,  but 
also  a  peculiar  condition  of  the  blood  itself  allied  to  anaemia. 
Laziness,  stupidity,  and  indisposition  to  apply  the  mind  to 

*  In  this  connection,  many  of  my  readers  will  recall  a  recent  book 
on  "  Study  and  Stimulants "  by  A.  A.  Keade,  giving  the  habits  of  the 
leading  literary  men  of  to-day  in  regard  to  the  use  of  alcoholic 
drinks  and  tobacco.  As  would  be  expected,  many  of  the  European 
authors  use  wine,  and  see  no  more  harm  in  it  than  our  fathers  did 
fifty  years  ago,  before  the  temperance  agitation  had  fairly  begun. 
As  to  the  use  of  tobacco  by  full  grown  men,  the  opinions  are  divided, 
but  no  one  advocates  its  use  by  growing  youth,  either  in  this  book  or  any 
other.  It  appears  from  this  book  that  Dr.  Holmes  does  his  work 
without  using  stimulants  of  any  kind — he  wants  a  clear  head.  In  a 
letter  to  the  editor,  Mr.  W.  D.  How  ells  says  he  never  uses  tobacco  ex- 
cept "  in  a  very  rare  self -defensive  cigarette,  where  a  great  many 
other  people  are  smoking  ;  and  I  commonly  drink  water  at  dinner. 
When  I  take  wine,  I  think  it  weakens  my  work  and  my  working 
force  the  next  morning."  The  late  Dr.  George  M.  Beard  says  that  he 
found  that  on  himself  "  alcohol  has  rather  a  benumbing  and  stupefy- 
ing effect,  whatever  may  be  the  dose  employed,  whereas  tobacco  and 
opium,  in  moderate  doses,  tea  and  especially  coffee,  as  well  as  cocoa, 
have  an  effect  precisely  the  reverse."  Mark  Twain  does  not  use  alco- 
holic stimulants  in  writing.  He  says  :  "  I  have  never  seen  the  time 
when  I  coTild  write  to  my  satisfaction  after  drinking  one  glass  of 
wine."  It  is  interesting  to  know  that  Darwin  drank  a  glass  of  wine 
daily  at  the  suggestion  of  his  physician  to  prevent  dizziness,  but  he 
thought  it  did  him  no  good.  But  he  says  :  "I  have  taken  snuff  all 
my  life,  and  regret  that  I  ever  acquired  the  habit,  which  I  have  often 
tried  to  leave  off,  and  have  succeeded  for  a  time."  Professor  Tyn- 
dall  thinks  it  is  much  better  to  get  on  without  either  wine  or  tobacco. 
And  Charles  Keade  says  he  tried  to  smoke  five  or  six  times,  "  but  it 
always  made  me  heavy  and  rather  sick  ;  therefore,  as  it  is  not  a  nee- 


CHOOSING    A    BIRTHPLACE.  19 

* 

study  were  traced,  with  probable  accuracy,  to  the  habit  of 
smoking  in  many  of  these  lads,  and  when  formed  early  he 
found  that  smoking  gradually  brought  a  predisposition  to  alco- 
holic stimulants,  and  that  in  some  instances  the  starting-point 
of  a  criminal  career  dated  from  the  first  secret  indulgence  of 
the  vice,  producing  by  slow  degrees,  when  acting  upon  a  consti- 
tution still  extremely  flexible,  a  complete  moral  and  intellectual 
transformation  as  well  as  physical  degeneracy. 

From  a  business  standpoint  boys  should  remember  that 
tobacco  burns  up  their  future  capital.  When  Admiral  Farra- 
gut's  son  was  ten  years  old  the  father  said  in  his  hearing  that 
when  he  was  old  enough  to  make  a  contract  and  keep  it,  he 
had  a  bargain  to  offer  him.  The  son  rose  up  and  asked  the 
father  what  the  contract  was.  The  admiral  said,  "  The  pro- 
posal I  intend  to  make  is  this  :  If  you  will  not  smoke  or  chew 
tobacco,  drink  intoxicating  or  strong  wines,  till  you  are  twenty- 
one  years  of  age,  I  will  then  give  you  one  thousand  dollars." 
*'  I  am  old  enough  to  make  that  bargain  now,"  said  young 
Farragut.  "  I  will  accept  the  offer."  The  bargain  was  closed, 
and  when  young  Farragut  was  twenty-one  the  cash  was  handed 
over  to  him.  A  smoking  boy  can  save  a  thousand  dollars  in  a 
few  years  in  the  same  way,  besides  saving  physical  energy  and 
moral  power.  The  country  boy  averages  less  smoke  than  his 
city  cousin,  but  more  success. 


essary  of  life,  and  costs  money  and  makes  me  sick,  I  spurned  it  from 
me.  I  have  never  felt  the  want  of  it.  I  have  seen  many  people  the 
worse  for  it.  I  have  seen  many  people  apparently  none  the  worse 
for  it.  I  never  saw  anybody  perceptibly  the  better  for  1C'  Thomas 
Hardy  has  no  faith  in  wine,  and  never  smoked  in  his  life.  Dr. 
Edward  A.  Freeman  tried  to  smoke  when  young,  but  found  the 
habit  "nasty, "and  gave  it  up.  He  has  used  wine  and  ale,  but 
thinks  a  good  sleep  the  best  stimulant.  The  Chicago  Tribune, 
which  is  certainly  not  prejudiced  in  favor  of  temperance,  admits 
"  that  the  result  of  all  this  testimony  seems  to  be  that  alcohol  is  an 
injurious  stimulant,"  while  the  testimonies  in  regard  to  the  effect  of 
tobacco  on  full-grown  men  seem  to  vary  with  temperament. 


20  SUCCESSFUL   MEtf   OF  TO-DAY. 

i 

The  superiority  of  the  country  boy  is  the  more  remarkable 
because  in  educational  advantages  and  mental  quickening  the 
city  boy  is  far  ahead  of  his  country  cousin.  The  intellectual 
advantages  of  the  city  boy  are,  however,  much  more  than 
matched  by  the  country  boy's  physical  and  moral  pre-eminence. 

— ^  Sound  morals  in  a  sound  body  is  the  watchword  of  success. 
Many  a  city  boy's  failure  may  be  explained  by  the  ancient  say- 
ing, ' '  The  spirit  is  willing,  but  the  flesh  is  weak. ' '  Yet  more 
of  the  failures  come  from  weak  morals. 

The  disadvantages  of  a  city  boyhood  cut  both  ways.  The 
statistics  show  that  the  city  boy  is  not  only  less  likely  to  go  on 
to  success,  but  he  is  more  likely  to  go  to  jail.  Even  in  the 
miscalled  "  City  of  Churches"  in  1881  there  was  one  arrest  to 
every  twenty-three  persons.  (Excise  Report,  p.  12.)  In  a 
recent  report  (1880)  of  the  superintendent  of  the  New  York 
State  Prisons,  we  find  that  out  of  2662  convicts  in  the  three 
State  prisons,  1599,  or  more  than  four  sevenths,  are  from  New 
York  City  alone,  which  contains  less  than  one  fourth  of  the 
population.  Nearly  all  the  other  prisoners  are  from  other 
cities. 

__  And  they  are  not  ruined  for  lack  of  education,  but  in  spite  of 
it.  Only  159  in  the  three  State  prisons  in  1880  had  no  educa- 
tion— that  is,  about  six  per  cent.*  In  Auburn  prison  during 
that  year  nearly  seven  per  cent  of  the  convicts  were  graduates 
of  colleges,  academies,  and  high  schools.  Boys  trained  in  the 
country  learn  to  paddle  their  own  canoe  instead  of  being  u  pad- 
dled "  in  a  prison.  They  find  voluntary  working  for  wages 
wiser  than  enforced  labor  without  wages. 

*  In  Brooklyn  in  1881,  out  of  28,889  arrests,  only  1326  could  neither 
read  nor  write — less  than  five  per  cent.  Of  the  Brooklyn  arrests  in 
1880,  79  were  under  8  years  old,  1409  under  14,  5393  under  21, 12,131 
under  30 — that  is,  thirteen  regiments  of  children  and  young  men  re- 
cruited yearly  from  the  "  City  of  Churches"  for  the  devil's  army  of 
crime,  a  sad  contrast  to  its  annual  Sunday-school  parade  of  the 
armies  of  hope. 


CHOOSING    A    BIRTHPLACE.  21 

According  to  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association — 

"  1.  There  are  in  Brooklyn  2567  licensed  liquor-saloons,  14 
theatres,  491  licensed  billiard  and  pool  tables,  40  bowling- 
alleys,  10  shooting-galleries,  besides  hundreds  of  places  where 
gambling  or  other  vices  are  indulged  in.  The  vast  majority  of 
their  patrons  are  young  men. 

"2.  Less  than  one  tenth  of  our  young  men  are  in  the 
churches  and  Sunday-schools.  This  statement  is  made  after  the 
most  careful  investigation. 

"  3.  In  one  of  our  largest  State  prisons  two  thirds  of  its  in- 
mates are  men,  and  two  thirds  of  these  are  under  twenty-six 
years  of  age.  In  another  State  prison,  in  which  1900  men 
(no  boys)  are  confined,  the  average  age  is  twenty-six  years, 
and  these  are  young  men  from  our  cities. ' ' 

Let  us  give  the  city  boys  a  chance  by  closing  up  the  dens  of 
drink  as  far  as  our  laws  allow — on  Sundays  against  all,  and  on 
all  days  against  the  young,  whom  our  minor  laws  protect. 
And  let  city  boys,  being  forewarned  of  their  dangers,  be  fore- 
armed against  them  by  following  country  habits. 


II. 

PARENTS   AND   POVERTY. 

Every  character  is  the  joint  product  of  nature  and  nurture. — 
GAKFIELD.' 

Poverty  is  iincomfortable,  as  I  can  testify  ;  but  nine  times  out  of 
ten  the  best  thing  that  can  happen  to  a  young  man  is  to  be  tossed 
overboard  and  compelled  to  sink  or  swim  for  himself.  In  all  my 
acquaintance  I  never  knew  a  man  to  be  drowned  who  was  worth  the 
saving.  It  is  the  pride  of  every  American  that  many  cherished  names, 
at  whose  mention  our  hearts  beat  with  a  quicker  bound,  were  worn  by 
the  sons  of  poverty  who  conquered  obscurity  and  became  fixed  stars 
in  our  firmament.  There  is  no  horizontal  stratification  in  this  coun- 
try like  the  rocks  in  the  earth,  that  hold  one  class  down  below  for- 
evermore,  and  let  another  come  to  the  surface  to  stay  there  forever. 
Our  stratification  is  like  the  ocean,  where  every  individual  drop  is  free 
to  move,  and  where  from  the  sternest  depths  of  the  mighty  deep  any 
drop  may  come  up  to  glitter  on  the  highest  wave  that  rolls.— GABFIELD. 

Average  Britons  reverence  pedigree  ;  average  Americans,  perform- 
ance ;  the  highest  Britons,  ancestry  ;  the  highest  Americans,  achieve- 
ment.— JOSEPH  COOK. 

THE  replies  speak  of  other  circumstances  over  which  we 
have  no  control,  besides  birthplaces,  that  help  to  make  men. 

Two  seeds  are  planted  in  the  same  environment  of  soil  and 
sunlight.  One  grows  into  an  oak,  and  the  other  becomes  only 
a  cabbage-head.  Shortly  after  Chief -Justice  Chase  had  gone 
for  the  first  time  to  Washington,  he  was  returning  to  the 
West.  The  train  stopped  at  a  little  station  in  Virginia,  and  he 
was  informed  that  it  was  the  birthplace  of  Patrick  Henry.  He 
immediately  left  the  car  and  stood  upon  the  platform,  admiring 
the  magnificence  of  the  scenery  that  opens  before  the  travel- 
ler. He  said,  "  What  an  atmosphere  !  What  a  view  !  What 


PARENTS   AND    POVERTY.  22 

glorious  mountains  !  No  wonder  that  Patrick  Henry  grew 
here."  One  of  the  natives,  who  was  standing  by  his  side, 
quietly  replied,  "  Yes,  sir,  but  as  far  as  I  have  heard,  that 
landscape  and  those  mountains  have  always  been  here  ;  but  we 
haven1 1  seen  any  more  Patrick  Henrys."  Men  differ  in  nature 
as  well  as  surroundings.  The  nature  of  the  seed  that  is  planted  - 
has  more  to  do  with  its  success  than  the  atmosphere  in  which 
it  grows.  We  happen  to  know  that  in  Patrick  Henry's  favor- 
able environment  his  noble  mother  had  a  mightier  influence 
than  his  native  mountains.  Like  mother,  like  man. 

Several  of  our  successful  men  name  1 '  a  jgood  mother' '  and 
"  faithful  training"  among  the  causes  of  their  success.  That 
many  others  did  not  do  so  is  due  to  the  tendency  that  makes 
us  forget  to  thank  God  for  our  commonest  and  greatest  bless- 
ings, such  as  air  and  light.  Peter  Cooper's  success  is  partly 
explained  in  the  fact  that  his  mother  was  ' '  a  rare  blending  of 
sweetness  and  fire." 

If  you  would  be  successful,  select  not  only  a  country  birth- 
place, but  also  a  good  grandmother.  Heredity  is  mightier 
"than  homestead.  "  The  just  man  walketh  in  his  integrity  : 
his  children  are  blessed  after  him."  You  are  selecting  a  good 
grandmother,  or  the  opposite,  for  the  coming  man  in  your 
wedding  of  to-day,  besides  selecting  a  secret  of  your  own 
success  *  or  failure,  as  is  intimated  in  some  of  these  replies — for 
instance,  that  of  a  wealthy  New  Yorker,  who  says,  "  To  marry 
early  and  well  I  consider  one  of  the  sources  of  success."  On 
the  other  hand,  "  selfish  and  extravagant  wives"  and  "  unhappy 
marriages"  are  given  among  causes  of  failure,  and  also  "  post- 
poning marriage  and  getting  into  bad  habits."  "  The  man 
without  a  home  is  more  dangerous  than  an  asp  or  a  dragon," 
says  the  proverb.  "  A  large  majority  of  the  criminals  are  — 
bachelors"  echoes  every  prison  report.  In  Kings  County 
Penitentiary,  during  the  year  ending  August,  1882,  only  369 
out  of  1000  had  been  married.  In  Auburn  State  Prison,  in 

*  Proverbs  1-1  :  1  ;  18  :  22  ;  19  :  14  ;  31 :  10-31. 


24  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

1881,  364  were  married  persons  and  533  unmarried.  Marriage 
is  a  part  of  a  young  man's  environment  which  he  can  largely 
control.  If  he  cannot  choose  his  grandmother,  he  can  at  least 
choose  a  wife.  "  If  at  first  you  don't  succeed,  try,  try  again." 
A  good  wife  is  often  the  little  tug  behind  the  ship  that  makes 
it  go. 

Another  favoring  environment  of  boyhood  is  a  moderate 
allowance  of  poverty,  which  was  the  trainer  of  Girard,  Stewart, 
Astor,  and  Vanderbilt.  It  is  often  spoken  of  in  biographies  as 
a  disadvantage  which  was  overcome,  but  when  one  of  the 
"  wealthy  curled  darlings  of  our  nation"  overcomes  the  perils 
of  early  abundance,  he  is  a  yet  more  exceptional  victor.  Sev- 
enty-three per  cent  of  our  successful  men  belonged  to  families 
so  poor  that  they  had  to  work  most  of  the  time  out  of  school 
hours,  which  to  these  boys  were  generally  few.  They  were  not 
great  because  they  had  little  schooling,  but  in  spite  of  it.  I 
regard  the  putting  of  children  into  business  before  they  have  a 
good  education,  except  in  cases  of  necessity,  as  a  piece  of  rob- 
bery, cutting  off  the  future  income  of  the  man  to  gain  a  pit- 
tance from  his  boyhood,  which  is  also  imperilled  by  handling 
money  too  early,  with  all  its  temptations  to  dishonesty  and 
vice.  "  Going  into  business  too  young"  is  given  by  John 
Wanamaker  among  the  causes  of  failure  in  life. 

Many  of  our  great  men  went  to  school  but  three  or  six  months 
in  the  year,  and  most  of  them  left  school  altogether  before  they 
were  sixteen,  because  of  the  necessity  that  they  should  help 
their  parents  or  pay  their  own  way.  Seventy  per  cent  of  all 
my  correspondents  entered  upon  business  between  the  ages  of 
thirteen  and  seventeen. 

Necessity  is  the  mother  of  inventors.  il  Poverty  is  the 
mother  of  all  the  arts. "  "  Hunger  teaches  many  things. ' ' 

Thurlow  Weed  was  so  poor  in  boyhood  that  on  a  cold  March 
day  he  had  to  wrap  pieces  of  cloth  about  his  bare  feet  in  place 
of  socks  and  shoes.  Thus  shod,  he  walked  several  miles  in  the 
wintry  cold  to  borrow  a  history  of  the  Reformation.  Luxury 
raises  few  such  men,  but  many  a  "  barefoot  boy"  has  climbed 


PARENTS    AND    POVEKTY.  25 

the  ladder  of  success  by  sheer  energy  and  honesty — "  Adastra, 
per  aspera. "  A  fair  start  in  life,  as  in  numerals,  is  0. 

Nelson  W.  Aldrich,  the  Senator  from  Rhode  Island,  is  said 
to  have  entered  the  city  of  Providence  in  the  same  modest 
manner  that  the  illustrious  Whittington  entered  London — on 
foot,  and  with  his  clothes  slung  over  his  back.  Being  a  bright, 
active  youth,  he  soon  procured  employment  in  a  wholesale 
grocery  house  ;  but,  with  a  genius  superior  to  his  station,  he 
lose  in  life,  till  he  is  now,  at  forty,  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest 
firms  in  the  State,  and  a  Senator. 

Elihu  Burritt  is  another  typical  child  of  poverty.  He  was  a 
poor  boy,  the  son  of  a  farmer,  the  youngest  of  ten  children. 
He  became  an  apprentice  in  a  blacksmith  shop  at  eighteen. 
He  was  eager  to  study,  and  so  bought  some  Greek  and  Latin 
books,  carrying  them  in  his  hat  or  his  pocket,  and  learning 
from  them  as  he  worked  at  the  anvil.  From  these  he  went  to 
French,  Spanish,  and  Italian.  He  always  had  his  book  near 
him,  and  improved  every  spare  moment.  He  studied  seven 
languages  in  one  winter.*  He  taught  school  for  a  year,  but  his 
health  failing,  he  went  into  the  grocery  business.  Soon  his 
money  was  all  swept  away  by  losses.  He  left  New  Britain,  his 
native  town,  and  walked  to  Boston,  and  then  to  Worcester, 
where  he  again  took  up  the  anvil,  not  ashamed  to  earn  an 
honest  though  humble  living.  This  lack  of  success  at  twenty- 
seven  so  shaped  his  life  as  to  make  him  a  scholar  rather  than 
a  man  of  business  absorbed  in  money-making.  When  he  was 
thirty  years  of  age  he  had  learned  all  the  language  of  Europe 
and  several  of  Asia,  such  as  the  Hebrew,  Syriac,  and  Chaldaic. 
Governor  Edward  Everett,  of  Boston,  offered  him  a  course  in 
Harvard  University,  but  he  replied  that  he  preferred  to  work 
with  his  hands  while  he  studied.  He  soon  began  to  lecture, 
and  everybody  was  eager  to  hear  "  The  Learned  Blacksmith. " 
He  lectured  sixty  times  the  first  winter,  and  then  went  back  to 
his  anvil.  After  this  he  visited  Europe  several  times  ;  was  our 
consul  at  Birmingham,  England  ;  became  the  warm  friend  of 
John  Bright,  Richard  Cobden,  and  other  eminent  men  ;  wrote 


2G  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

books,  lectured,  edited  newspapers,  and  was  always  foremost 
in  visiting  the  poor  and  aiding  them.  He  started  a  course  of 
"  Penny  Readings"  for  the  poor  in  his  own  town,  which  a 
thousand  persons  attended.  He  was  a  most  earnest  Christian  ; 
built  a  chapel  at  his  own  expense,  and  often  held  meetings 
himself.  He  was  never  married,  but  was  devoted  to  his  sister 
and  nieces.  He  believed  that  it  is  not  genius  that  wins  places 
for  people,  but  hard  work  and  a  pure  life.  He  always  chose 
the  best  of  associates,  believing  that  a  boy's  friends  make  or 
spoil  him.  He  died  recently,  at  sixty-eight  years  of  age,  be- 
loved by  the  people  of  two  hemispheres.  Where  there  is  a 
will  to  be  good  and  great,  there  is  surely  a  way. 

These  facts  about  the  advantages  of  poverty  in  boyhood  have 
a  message  for  the  rich,  which  is  well  expressed  by  one  of  my 
correspondents,  a  New  York  merchant,  who  says  : 

"  I  believe  one  fruitful  cause  of  injury  to  young  men  of 
good  standing  in  society  is  the  lavish  amount  of  pocket-money 
their  parents  allow  them  when  they  are  boys. 

' '  In  boys  of  fine  fibre  it  leads  to  extravagance  and  ignorance 
of  the  true  value  of  money,  and  in  those  of  a  coarse  grain  it 
leads  to  dissipation  and  the  devil.  I  think  all  parents,  how- 
ever well  to. do,  should  give  a  fixed  allowance  per  week  to  their 
sons,  so  long  as  they  support  them,  and  that  it  should  always  be 
small.  The  possession  of  money  at  a  time  when  a  tempter 
comes  is  often  the  leaven  of  hell." 

Another  favoring  environment,  already  hinted  at  in  speaking 
of  poverty,  is  learning  to  work  regularly,  if  only  for  an  hour  or 
two  a  day,  at  a  very  early  period  of  life.  This  habit  of  early 
industry  is  even  more  powerful  than  a  country  environment  in 
preparing  a  boy  for  the  hard  work  of  winning  success,  as  may 
be  seen  from  the  fact  that  while  only  fifty-seven  per  cent  of  the 
successful  men  come  from  the  country,  seventy-three  per  cent 
of  them,  including  many  of  the  city  and  village  boys,  were 
accustomed  to  regular  work  out  of  school  hours.  In  several 
cases  boys  who  were  born  with  a  silver  spoon  in  their  months 
had  the  spade  of  early  and  regular  labor  put  in  their  hands  by 


PARENTS   AND    POVE11TY.  27 

wise  parents.  It  was  so  with  Congressman  Darwin  R.  James. 
One  of  our  most  distinguished  college  presidents,  in  replying 
that  he  did  no  regular  work  out  of  school  hours  during  his  boy- 
hood, remarks,  "  I  consider  this  a  matter  of  regret."  He 
recognizes  the  value  of  early  habits  of  industry,  apart  from 
their  relations  to  poverty,  as  a  preparation  for  a  noble  manhood. 

Milton  Bradley,  the  well-known  Springfield  publisher,  calls 
attention  to  the  fact  that  the  coming  woman  needs  to  be  trained 
to  work,  as  well  as  the  coming  man,  if  his  failure  is  to  be  pre- 
vented. He  writes  :  "I  think  domestic  troubles  and  worry 
are  prominent  hindrances  to  proper  work  in  a  great  number  of 
cases,  and  this  comes  largely  from  want  of  proper  practical 
training  of  the  girls  in  their  department  of  life.  The  introduc- 
tion of  machinery  and  the  division  of  labor  have  robbed  the 
boys  of  their  trades,  and  the  introduction  of  Irish  machines  in 
our  homes  has  robbed  the  girl  of  a  chance  to  learn  housekeeping. 
So  systematic  education  in  both  becomes  necessary." 

The  Atlanta  Constitution  recently  described  four  of  its  news- 
boys, brothers  in  blood  arid  pluck,  whose  early  habits  of  indus- 
try have  insured  their  success  : 

"  These  four  boys  started  a  few  years  ago  selling  newspapers. 
They  made  ten  cents  apiece  the  first  morning  they  went  to 
work,  and  for  two  winters  thereafter  they  went  barefooted 
through  the  snow  and  sleet  in  the  freezing  dawn  on  their  morn- 
ing rounds.  From  the  very  first  they  saved  a  certain  percent- 
age of  their  earnings,  which  they  wisely  invested  in  Atlanta 
real  estate.  The  oldest  of  them  is  now  eighteen  years  of  age, 
and  the  youngest  twelve.  They  have  supported  an  invalid 
father  and  their  mother  all  the  time,  and  now  have  property 
worth  considerably  over  $5000,  houses  from  which  the  rent  is 
$20  a  month,  and  $200  stock  in  a  building  and  loan  associa- 
tion. They  have  educated  themselves  the  meanwhile,  remain- 
ing from  school  this  year  in  order  that  they  might  work  the 
harder  and  build  a  home  for  their  parents,  that  is  to  have  a 
front  parlor  and  a  bay  window  in  it.  These  little  fellows  have 
been  carriers,  newsboys,  errand  boys,  and  apprentices  about 


28  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

the  Constitution  office,  and  one  of  them  is  now  assistant  mail- 
ing clerk.  Their  net  savings  from  their  sales  and  salaries,  ex- 
clusive of  their  rents,  has  been  $20  a  week  for  this  year.  Next 
year  they  can  do  better,  and  by  the  time  the  oldest  of  the 
brothers  is  of  age  they  ought  to  have  a  comfortable  little 
fortune. 

"  What  these  boys  have  done  other  boys  can  do.  The 
whole  secret  is  steadiness,  sobriety,  industry,  and  economy. 
There  are  few  lessons  more  important  for  boys  than  that  the 
smallest  income — no  matter  how  small — will  make  a  man  in- 
dependent if  he  will  only  live  inside  of  it,  and  compound  his 
surplus.  It  must  have  been  discouraging  to  these  youngsters 
when  it  took  them  a  month  to  lay  up  a  single  dollar,  and  it  was 
heroic  in  them  when  they  laid  this  dollar  up  arid  went  bare- 
footed over  frozen  ground  rather  than  use  it  to  buy  shoes  with. 
It  is  easy  now,  when  they  are  comfortably  clad  and  housed, 
and  everybody  about  them  is  comfortable,  and  their  savings 
amount  to  twenty  times  a  week  more  than  they  were  formerly 
able  to  save  in  a  month.  They  have  conquered  life  almost  be- 
fore they  have  entered  it,  and  if  they  will  only  keep  cleanly 
hearts  and  genial  souls,  and  broad,  hearty  impulses,  they  will 
be  not  only  rich  but  useful  men. ' ' 


J     EX.GOV,  ALEX.H,  STEPHENS, U 


STATESMEN. 


III. 

WILL    AND    WORK. 

If  the  power  to  do  hard  work  is  not  talent,  it  is  the  best  possible 
substitute  for  it.  Things  don't  turn  up  in  this  world  until  somebody 
turns  them  up.  A  pound  of  pluck  is  worth  a  ton  of  luck.  Luck  is 
an  ignis  faluus.  You  may  follow  it  to  ruin,  but  never  to  success.— 
GAEFIELD. 

Wake  the  strong  divinity  of  soul, 

That  conquers  chance  and  fate. — AKENSIDE. 

THERE  is  a  good  deal  of  truth  mixed  into  the  false  proverb 
that  "  Circumstances  make  men,"  which  is  nevertheless  only  a 
wolf  in  wool. 

In  the  ascertained  facts  as  to  the  larger  percentage  of  men 
out  of  jail  and  in  success  from  the  country  than  the  city,  from 
good  mothers  than  bad,  from  the  ranks  of  the  poor  than  from 
those  of  the  rich,  from  those  who  early  learned  to  work  than 
from  all  others,  there  is  a  good  deal  of  wool  to  weave  into  the 
proverb;  and  yet  it  is  not  "all  wool  a  yard  wide,"  but  a 
damaging  half-truth — that  is,  a  He. 

Nine  tailors  cannot  make  a  man  with  all  this  wool,  without 
his  own  will  and  work.  When  a  man  will,  he  will.  "  They 
can  who  think  they  can."  "  Character  is  a  perfectly  educated 
will." 

Whether  a  boy  is  from  farm  or  city,  rich  or  poor,  weak  or 
strong,  talented  or  not,  will  and  work  are  sure  to  win.  Wishes 
fail,  but  wills  prevail.  Labor  is  luck. 

All  men  are  not  born  equal,  the  Declaration  of  Independence 
to  the  contrary  notwithstanding.  But  the  inequality  can  be 
greatly  lessened  by  will  and  work.  The  city  boy  has  greater 


32  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

odds  against  him  in  his  physical  and  moral  environment  than 
the  country  boy,  but  it  is  not  always  the  boat  that  gets  the 
choice  of  position  that  wins  the  race.  President  Chadbourne 
put  pluck  in  place  of  his  lost  lung,  and  worked  thirty-five  years 
after  his  funeral  had  been  arranged.  Longfellow  succeeded 
without  the  advantage  of  an  early  struggle  with  poverty  or  the 
plough.  He  was  a  city  boy,  as  also  Neal  Dow,  Schuyler  Col- 
fax,  President  Eliot,  Peter  Cooper,  and  Charles  Francis  Adams. 
Moses  was  not  spoiled  by  being  a  cultured  city  boy  in  a  bad 
environment.  You  can  win  as  he  did,  by  loyalty  to  God,  even 
in  a  city  home. 

The  villages,  which  include  about  thirty-three  per  cent  of  our 
population,  have  been  the  training- places  of  only  twenty -three 
per  cent  of  our  successful  men — a  less  favorable  report  than 
even  the  cities — due  perhaps  to  the  fact  that  village  boys  lack 
at  once  the  country  boy's  discipline  of  work  and  the  city  boy's 
educational  opportunities.  But  even  from  the  villages  have 
come  such  men  as  President  White  of  Cornell,  President 
Seelye  of  Amherst,  John  Sherman,  Governor  Charnberlin, 
and  Governor  St.  John. 

It  is  a  great  disadvantage  to  have  weak  or  unworthy  parents, 
but  even  such  odds  may  be  overcome.  A  hare  inherits  a 
swifter  pace  than  a  snail,  but  the  snail  may  distance  him  in  the 
end  by  slow  and  sure  progress  day  after  day.  It  is  not  usually 
the  most  brilliant  scholar  in  a  college  class  that  wins  the  vale- 
dictory or  the  highest  place  in  after  life.  His  very  smartness 
is  his  peril,  for  he  depends  upon  it  rather  than  upon  hard  work, 
which  is  the  winning  horse  in  the  race  of  life,  much  as  he 
seems  to  lag  at  the  start.  Smartness  is  far  behind  him  on  the 
home-stretch. 

One  of  the  ablest  and  noblest  lawyers  of  New  York  City  is 
the  son  of  an  ignorant  Irish  drayman.  One  of  my  schoolmates 
in  early  boyhood  was  the  son  of  a  weak-minded  donkey-driver 
of  the  village.  He  is  now  a  prominent  teacher  in  Massachu- 
setts. Many  of  our  eagles  had  no  better  nests. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  grandson  of  Patrick  Henry  recently 


WILL   AND    WORK.  33 

turned  up  as  a  vagrant  at  Memphis  police  head-quarters.  He 
possesses  a  fine  education,  but  is  intemperate.  Blood  will  tell 
— sometimes. 

After  all,  it  is  better  to  make  our  descendants  proud  of  us 
than  to  be  proud  of  our  ancestry.  Ascent  is  better  than  de- 
scent. Better  be  the  foundation  of  a  new  pyramid  than  the 
tapering  apex  of  an  old  one. 

Too  much  poverty  or  riches  is  an  unfavorable  environment, 
but  Kitto  was  born  in  apoorhouse,  and  Mayor  Low  of  Brooklyn 
was  not  spoiled  in  a  home  of  wealth.  Secretary  Brewster  also 
was  "  reared  in  comparative  affluence." 

It  is  a  proper  subject  for  regret  that  every  son  does  not  in 
youth,  like  the  boys  of  the  ancient  Jews  * — the  wealthiest  as 
well  as  poorest — learn  some  whole  trade,  which  he  can  use,  if 
necessary,  in  manhood,  and  which  will  in  any  case  develop 
muscle  and  habits  of  industry.  A  boy's  studies  would  be  made 

*  "  We  should  especially  direct  our  attention  to  earning  a  liveli- 
hood by  a  trade  or  handicraft,  by  husbandry  or  tending  cattle,  as 
did  our  forefathers.  Even  the  judges,  kings,  and  prophets  in  Israel 
were  husbandmen— for  example,  Gideon,  Saul,  Elisha,  etc.  The 
patriarchs,  Abraham,  etc.,  were  shepherds.  The  wisest  of  the  Tal- 
mudists  were  handicraft  men— for  instance,  Rabbi  Hillel  was  a  wood- 
cutter •  Rabbi  Judah  was  a  smith." 

He  who  does  not  let  his  child  learn  a  trade  paves  his  way  to  thievery. — 
Talmud  Kedushin  29. 

[From  "  Doctrines  of  Faith  and  Morals  for  Jewish  Schools,"  et3., 
pp.  138,  162.] 

It  might  also  be  urged  in  favor  of  learning  a  boy  a  whole  trade  that 
he  may  thus  be  saved  from  the  many  disadvantages,  mental  as  well 
as  monetary,  of  the  modern  machine-shop,  whereby  the  division  of 
labor  a  man  cannot  make  a  whole  pin,  but  spends  his  life  in  making 
heads  or  points  only,  having  no  joy  or  intellectual  exercise  in  his 
monotonous  work,  and  being  unable  to  take  up  any  other  work  when 
his  department  has  an  oversupply.  In  such  places,  as  Buskin  has 
well  said,  "  We  manufacture  everything  except  men."  Garfield 
echoes  that  sentiment,  saying  to  young  men,  "  Do  not,  I  beseech 
you,  be  content  to  enter  upon  any  business  which  does  not  require 
and  compel  constant  intellectual  growth." 


34  SUCCESSFUL   MEIST   OF   TO-DAY. 

more  effective  by  combining  with  them  at  least  an  hour  or  two 
of  systematic  manual  work.  If  physical  education  were  thus 
combined  with  mental  and  moral  culture,  we  should  not  have 
so  many  sickly  ministers,  editors,  and  teachers,  whose  weak 
bodies  stagger  under  the  work  which  is  put  on  them  by  their 
strong  minds — "  too  heavy  for  the  animals  they  ride."  Nor 
should  we  have  so  many  criminals,  for  **  No  trade"  is  the  Open 
Sesame  of  our  jails.  Some  years  ago  I  found  ninety  per  cent 
of  the  convicts  in  the  Massachusetts  State  prison  at  Charlestown 
had  come  in  by  that  password.  But  even  those  who  lack  the 
vigor  which  comes  from  early  habits  of  labor  may  win  by  will 
and  work,  in  spite  of  this  unfavoring  environment. 

An  unmarried  man  works  against  great  odds,  but  Alexan- 
der H.  Stephens,  Elihu  Burritt,  and  ex-Vice-President  Ferry 
were  successful  bachelors.  More  remarkable  still,  Socrates, 
Milton,  and  John  Wesley  succeeded  in  spite  of  bad  wives.  On 
this  list  it  will  not  be  safe  to  enumerate  any  who  are  living. 

It  is  a  great  disadvantage  to  enter  upon  professional  or  even 
business  life  without  a  thorough  education.  I  have  examined 
the  educational  record  of  the  seventy  foremost  men  in  Ameri- 
can politics — cabinet  officers,  senators,  congressmen,  and  gov- 
ernors of  national  reputation — and  I  find  that  thirty-seven  of 
them  are  college  graduates,  that  five  more  had  a  part  of  the 
college  course  but  did  not  graduate,  while  only  twenty-eight 
did  not  go  to  college  at  all.  As  not  more  than  one  young  man 
in  five  hundred  goes  to  college,  and  as  this  one  five  hundredth 
of  the  young  men  furnish  four  sevenths  of  our  distinguished 
public  officers,  it  appears  that  a  collegian  has  seven  hundred  and 
fifty  times  as  many  chances  of  being  an  eminent  governor  or 
congressman  as  other  young  men.  In  this  connection  it  may 
be  said  incidentally  that  five  sevenths  of  these  public  men  are 
lawyers,  one  seventh  are  in  mercantile  life,  one  tenth  are  edi- 
tors, and  the  other  two  were  professional  soldiers.  And  yet, 
while  a  college  training  is  so  great  an  advantage,  the  non-gradu- 
ates include  Edmunds,  Sherman,  St.  John,  Randall,  Kelley, 
Teller,  Hiscock,  Proctor  Knott,  Levi  P.  Morton,  Cornell,  Fos- 


WILL   AND   WORK.  35 

ter,  Mahone,  Hale,  Brown,  Simon  Cameron,  James,  Windom, 
and  Ferry  of  Michigan — all  of  them  peers  of  the  graduates 
among  the  seventy. 

There  is  hardly  a  conceivable  disadvantage  of  birthplace, 
parentage,  poverty,  riches,  or  bodily  condition  that  some  of 
our  successful  men  have  not  overcome,  and,  in  the  language  of 
one  of  their  mottoes,  "  What  man  has  done  man  can  do." 
Indeed,  can  is  only  another  name  for  will.  Will  equals  can. 
He  that  will  can.  "  Strong  men  have  wills  ;  weak  ones  have 
only  wishes."  Whatever  disadvantages  you  may  have,  if  you 
have  also  a  will  to  work,  you  may  checkmate  them  and  win 
true  success.  In  the  battle  of  life  there  is  a  survival  of  the 
fittest,  but  not  (among  men  at  least)  in  the  sense  in  which  the 
materialist  uses  the  term  as  applying  to  physical  superiority. 
In  the  contest  of  wishes  and  wills,  the  wills  win — not  those  who 
are  strongest  of  body  or  even  of  intellect. 

Materialistic  evolutionists  would  make  man  (as  they  have 
God)  a  mere  stick  on  the  tide,  that  goes  wherever  it  is  carried, 
toward  vice  or  virtue.  When  I  bought  pure  milk 'of  my  milk- 
man yesterday  morning,  according  to  this  theory  of  Tyndall 
and  others,  I  couldn't  have  bought  it  of  anybody  else,  nor 
could  my  milkman  have  sold  me  'chalk  and  water  instead  of 
pure  milk.  Our  grandmothers,  our  food,  our  climate — in  short, 
our  environment — made  it  impossible  for  either  of  us  to  do 
otherwise  than  we  did  1 

The  facts  of  biography  as  well  as  our  own  consciousness  veto 
this  theory  by  showing  that  will  and  conscience  make  circum- 
stances instead  of  being  ruled  by  them.  One  of  America's 
prominent  astronomers  is  only  four  feet  high,  and  would  hardly 
outweigh  a  boy  of  ten  years.  But  there  are  few  who  could 
outweigh  him  in  intellect  and  achievement.  Alexander  H. 
Stephens  with  a  dwarf's  body  did  a  giant's  work.  With 
only  a  broken  scythe,  by  sheer  force  of  will  and  work,  he 
overmatched  in  the  harvest  those  who  had  fine  mowing- 
machines.  It  might  have  been  said  of  him,  as  of  Candlish, 
"  There's  nae  muckle  o'  him,  but  there's  a  deal  in  him."  In- 


36  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

diana's  greatest  governor  was  Oliver  P.  Morton,  who  went  on 
crutches.  "  It  is  the  mind  that  makes  the  man."  Chief- 
Justice  Chase  in  his  boyhood  gave  little  promise  of  his  future 
career.  He  was  near-sighted,  had  a  bad  impediment  in  his 
speech,  and  was  stoop-shouldered,  shambling  and  slouchy  in 
his  appearance  and  gait.  Owing  to  the  death  of  his  father  and 
the  poverty  of  his  mother  he  was  adopted  by  his  uncle,  Bishop 
Chase,  of  Ohio.  Estey,  of  organ  fame,  was  given  away  at  four 
years  of  age,  and  had  no  schooling  worth  mentioning,  and  yet 
he  has  won  true  success — not  only  money  but  public  esteem 
— by  will  and  work.  Peter  Cooper  went  to  school  but  one 
year,  and  then  only  half  the  time  because  of  his  parents'  pov- 
erty and  the  necessity  for  him  to  work  ;  but  will  and  work 
stored  both  his  safe  and  his  mind.  His  own  struggles  led  him 
to  found  the  Cooper  Union  for  other  children  of  poverty. 
Edmund  Driggs,  of  Brooklyn,  who  is  honored  for  what  he  is  as 
well  as  for  what  he  has,  for  his  double  worth,  began  his  climb 
up  the  ladder  as  a  common  sailor.  Senator  Brown,  of  Georgia, 
was  nineteen  years  old  before  he  learned  to  read,  but  such  odds 
did  not  prevent  him  from  being  a  judge,  governor,  and  senator. 
Orange  Judd  is  another  triumph  of  clear  grit  over  environ- 
ment. Without  a  dollar  of  help  not  earned  by  himself,  or  the 
prospect  of  any,  he  started  for  the  school  where  he  was  to  fit 
for  college  ;  earned  corn  by  working  for  neighboring  farmers  ; 
carried  it  himself  to  the  mill  to  have  it  ground,  and  brought 
back  the  meal  to  his  room  ;  cooked  it  himself  as  mush  ;  milked 
a  cow  or  two  daily  for  his  pint  of  milk  per  day  ;  and  so  lived 
on  mush  and  milk  as  his  chief  subsistence  for  months  together. 
Afterward  he  worked  his  own  way  through  Wesleyan  Univer- 
sity and  a  three  years'  post-graduate  course  at  Yale.  Professor 
Townsend,  of  Boston  University,  the  author  of  "  Credo"  and 
many  other  books,  worked  his  way  in  similar  fashion  through 
Amherst,  boarding  himself  at  a  cost  of  forty-five  cents  per 
week.  It  is  related  of  Congressman  W.  W.  Crapo  that  he 
helped  to  pay  his  own  way  through  college  by  doing  clerical 
work.  His  father  before  him  was  too  poor  when  a  boy  to  buy 


WILL   AND   WORK.  3? 

books,  and,  being  in  want  of  a  dictionary,  prepared  a  manu- 
script one,  walking  from  his  home  in  the  village  of  Dartmouth, 
Mass.,  to  New  Bedford  to  replenish  his  store  of  words  and 
definitions  from  the  town  library.  The  father  finally  became  a 
governor,  and  the  son  is  likely  to  have  the  same  title  some  day. 

"  Who  loves  his  work  and  knows  to  spare, 
May  live  and  flourish  anywhere." 

"  Set  a  stout  heart  against  a  stiff  hill,"  or,  as  the  Japanese 
say  in  symbol  language  to  their  boys  in  giving  them  kites  in  the 
shape  of  fish,  Be  like  the  carp  that  swims  upstream  and  jumps 
the  waterfalls.  Any  one  can  drift  with  circumstances.  It 
takes  pluck  to  stem  an  unfavorable  current. 

There  are  few  circumstances  over  which  a  strong  will  has  no 
control.  "  A  boa-constrictor  woke  up  hungry  from  a  three 
months'  nap  and  caught  a  rabbit,  which  he  bolted  whole  in  the 
usual  way.  This  did  not  satisfy  the  cravings  of  his  capacious 
stomach,  and  so  he  went  afield  in  search  of  further  victuals, 
and  presently  came  to  a  rail  fence,  which  he  essayed  to  get 
through.  But  the  lump  caused  by  the  defunct  though  undi- 
gested bunny  stopped  him,  like  a  knot  in  a  rope,  when  his 
head  and  a  few  feet  only  of  his  body  had  passed  between  the 
rails.  Lying  in  this  attitude,  he  caught  and  swallowed  another 
rabbit  which  had  incautiously  ventured  within  his  narrow  sphere 
of  action.  Now,  what  was  the  state  of  affairs  ?  He  could 
neither  go  ahead  nor  astern  through  the  fence,  being  jammed 
by  his  fore-and-aft  inside  passengers,  and  in  this  embarrassing 
position  he  was  slain  with  ease.  The  boa-constrictor  was  con- 
trolled by  circumstances  which  should  have  been  controlled  by 
him.  He  should  have  bidden  the  fence  '  Good  morning '  be- 
fore swallowing  the  second  rabbit. ' ' 

A  man  fails  in  his  plans  of  life  and  lays  it  to  unfavoring  cir- 
cumstances. The  fact  too  frequently  is  that  he  wrought  out 
his  own  failure  by  swallowing  liquor  or  luxuries  beyond  his 
means.  When  he  found  himself  in  financial  difficulties  he 
completed  his  ruin  by  going  further  into  debt  and  continuing 


38  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

his  extravagances.  As  the  Oriental  proverb  says  of  the  proud 
man  in  difficulties,  "  The  rat  can  not  squeeze  through  the  hole 
because  he  has  tied  a  broom  to  his  tail."  "  When  pride 
cometh,  then  cometh  shame. " 

"  Poets  are  born,  and  not  made,"  says  the  proverb.  Nay, 
for  poets  are  partly  self-made.  A  boy  of  ten,  replying  to  the 
question,  "  Who  made  you  ?"  said,  measuring  the  length  of  a 
baby  with  his  hands,  4i  God  made  me  so  long,  and  I  growed  the 
rest."  The  mistake  of  the  little  deist  in  leaving  out  the  God 
of  his  growth  suggests  the  truth  that  we  are  partly  self-made 
men.  God  and  motherhood  and  birthplace  partly  make  us, 
but  we  must  make  the  rest  by  will  and  work.  "  There  is  a 
Divinity  that  shapes  our  ends,"  but  it  makes  a  difference 
whether  we  ourselves  hew  them  rough  or  smooth.  "  If  you 
want  to  fill  a  round  hole,  make  a  ball  of  yourself."  Circum- 
stances shape  putty,  but  men  make  circumstances.  In  the 
words  of  Holland, 

"  We  build  the  ladder  by  which  we  rise, 

***** 
And  we  mount  to  the  summit  round  by  round." 

It  has  been  well  said  by  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  "  with  regard 
to  the  young  workingman  of  America,  that  if  ordinary  health 
is  given  him.  and  ordinary  mental  endowments,  if  a  young  man 
in  the  community  is  not  above  all  possible  want  by  the  time 
that  he  is  thirty-five,  if  by  then  he  does  not  stand  upon  a  com- 
-  ^potency,  it  is  because  he  is  an  immoral  man.  There  is  oppor- 
tunity— under  our  heaven,  on  our  soil,  and  among  our  prolific 
influences  for  the  geneses  of  life,  there  is  opportunity  which  no 
man  can  miss — except  he  sins  in  the  missing." 

"  Everyman  the  architect  of  his  own  fortune,"  wrote  Presi- 
dent Carter  of  W7illiams  College,  as  a  watchword,  in  his  reply 
to  my  inquiries,  and  then  erased  it  and  wrote,  "  No,  I  will 
take  that  back."  It  is  only  half  the  truth.  Every  man  is  a 
joint  architect  with  God  of  his  own  fortune.  "  God  makes 
"  capacity,  man  makes  character."  "  You  can  not  dream 
yourself  into  a  character,  you  must  forge  yourself  one."  . 


.7tTsA*T 

V   0--  THE 

U  Ni  VARSITY 


IY. 

ENVIRONMENT  AND  CHARACTER.  x 

Character  is  both  a  result  and  a  cause — a  result  of  influences  and  a 
cause  of  results. — GAEFIELD. 

Authors  are  the  creators  or  the  creatures  of  opinion  ;  the  great 
form  an  epoch,  the  many  reflect  an  age.  — DISRAELI. 

TRUE  men  are  neither  made  nor  ruled  by  circumstances.  It 
is  a  common  fallacy  that  a  man  must  lower  his  moral  standard 
to  the  customs  of  the  community  in  which  he  resides.  As  one 
follows  the  multitude  to  do  evil  by  some  trick  of  trade,  he  says 
to  his  conscience  and  to  his  minister,  "  They  all  do  it,  and  so  I 
have  to  do  it.  A  man  must  live.  If  I  don't  do  it,  somebody 
else  will. ' '  This  last,  as  Dickens  reminds  us,  is  the  excuse  of 
thieves  :  "  If  I  don't  pick  the  old  cove's  pocket,  somebody  else 
will  ;  he  will  be  no  better  off,  and  I  shall  be  worse  off." 

A  gentleman  spoke  to  a  confectioner  in  regard  to  his  complex 
offence  of  breaking  both  human  and  divine  laws  by  trading  on 
Sunday,  and  at  the  same  time  tempting  children  to  embezzle  for 
candy  the  money  given  them  for  the  Sunday-school  collection. 
He  made  no  defense  except  that  all  the  other  candy  stores  did 
it,  and  that  he  couldn't  make  a  living  without  his  illegal  Sunday 
trade.  Similar  excuses  are  made  by  grocers,  barbers,  news- 
dealers, and  other  Sabbath-breakers.  Postmen  are  required  by 
the  very  government  of  the  land  to  violate  the  spirit  at  least  of 
the  State  Sunday  laws  and  do  "  servile  work"  in  collecting  and 
sorting  mail  on  the  Lord's  day.  "  We  have  to  do  it,"  is  their 
only  excuse  for  Sabbath-breaking.  No  wonder  that  men  who 
are  robbed  of  their  Sunday  sometimes  learn  to  rob  the  mails. 
It  is  not  strange  that  those  who  are  trained  to  break  the  fourth 


40  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

commandment  sometimes  go  on  with  the  lesson  and  break  the 
eighth.  The  petition  of  the  National  Temperance  Society  * 
against  Sunday  work  in  post-offices  ought  to  be  widely  circu- 
lated. 

A  reformed  man  acts  as  an  agent  and  manager  in  the  sale  of 
starch  to  beer  brewers,  not  only  against  his  conscience  but  in 
constant  peril  of  falling  into  his  old  habits  by  his  tempting 
associations.  He  does  it  because  no  other  equally  lucrative 
employment  seems  available.  The  worst  of  it  is  that  his  em- 
ployers are  also  nominal  Christians,  and  at  the  same  time  indi- 
rect allies  of  intemperance.  The  excuse  of  employer  and  of 
employed  is,  "A  man  must  live." 

Another  man,  against  his  conscience,  assists  in  the  manage- 
ment of  a  sporting  paper,  whose  influence  he  would  not  for  a 
moment  defend.  He  does  it  because  it  seems  to  be  the  most 
convenient  way  of  making  a  living.  He  makes  his  business  an 
excuse  for  not  being  a  Christian,  and  yet  does  not  abandon  it. 
•^  Better  to  die  in  doing  right  than  to  get  rich  in  doing  wrong, 
for  **  a  man  must  live" — FOREVER. 

"  If  I  don't  sell  these  sensational  and  corrupting  papers," 
says  the  poisoner  of  youth,  "  somebody  else  will."  Anthony 
Com  stock  declares  that  nearly  all  the  vile  publishers  whom  he 
arrests  make  the  plea,  "  A  man  must  live."  We  should  reply 
as  a  certain  judge  did  when  a  thief  made  this  excuse,  "  I  don't 
see  any  necessity  for  it."  When  Luther's  friends  attempted 
to  dissuade  him  from  going  in  a  certain  path  of  duty  because  it 
might  become  a  path  of  death,  he  replied,  "It  is  necessary 
that  I  should  go  ;  it  is  not  necessary  that  I  should  live." 
There  is  nothing  a  true  man  must  do  but  die  in  the  path  of 
duty.  While  we  live,  let  us  live. 

Take  as  your  motto,  "  I  had  rather  die  than  be  debased." 
Instead  of  that,  men  say,  in  selfish  and  cowardly  apology  for 
their  wrong-doing,  "  We  have  to  do  it,  the  competition  is  so 
strong."  On  that  plea  a  business  house  prints  "  list  prices" 

*  58  Reade  Street,  N.  Y. 


ENVIRONMENT    AND    CHARACTER.  41 

in  which  the  letters  "  s  t"  are  superfluous — prices  far  above 
the  real  value  of  the  article,  far  above  its  real  price,  far  above 
what  the  dealers  expect  to  get  from  intelligent  customers — 
partly  for  the  pretense  of  making  a  discount  and  partly  to  allow 
agents  a  chance  to  cheat  those  who  don't  know  any  better  than 
to  pay  what  is  asked.  Below  "  list  price,"  "  discount  price," 
"wholesale  price,"  "lowest  price,"  "very  lowest  price," 
is  the  "  bottom  price,"  and  even  that  is  often  a  false  bottom, 
like  those  in  too  many  baskets  and  boxes.  One  hundred  fruit 
dealers  were  arrested  at  one  time  in  Chicago  for  selling  such 
boxes  of  strawberries.  "  They  all  did  it." 

Instead  of  honesty's  one  unvarying  retail  price,  modified,  if 
at  all,  only  by  a  uniform  discount  for  cash,  and  honesty's  uni- 
form wholesale  price  to  all  who  purchase  a  like  quantity,  there 
are  in  many  of  our  most  respectable  firms  to-day  so  many 
prices  that  the  dealers  often  show  their  troubled  consciences  by 
apologizing  for  the  fraud.  They  say,  "  We  have  to  do  it  be- 
cause others  do. "  How  much  that  sounds  like  the  clanking 
chain  of  a  slave  to  circumstances  !  We  can  almost  smell  the 
pottage  for  which  Esau  sold  his  birthright.  Better  lose  a 
morsel  of  meat  or  a  little  money  than  the  birthright  of  one's 
honest  manhood. 

"  We  have  to  do  it,"  says  the  barber's  assistant  who  robs 
his  conscience  of  its  weekly  food  and  culture  by  Sunday  labor 
in  violation  of  the  laws  of  the  State  and  of  God,  at  the  bidding 
of  his  employer.  Why  not  answer  with  Peter,  "  We  ought  to 
obey  God  rather  than  man."  Peter  risked  his  life  for  princi- 
ple. Why  shouldn't  you  risk  the  loss  of  pay  or  position  ? 

At  Stockholm  .Jenny  Lind  was  once  requested  to  sing  on 
Sunday  at  the  King's  palace,  on  the  occasion  of  some  great 
festival.  She  refused,  and  the  King  called  personally  upon  her 
— in  itself  a  high  honor — and  as  her  sovereign  commanded  her 
attendance.  Her  reply  was,  "  There  is  a  higher  King,  Sire, 
to  whom  I  owe  my  first  allegiance."  And  she  refused  to  be 
present. 

I  once  knew  an  expressman  who  refused  to  carry  intoxicating 


42  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

liquors.  Nor  did  his  fidelity  make  him  poor.  But  other 
carriers  bury  their  conscience  under  the  excuse,  "  They  all  do 
it."  It  was  recently  ascertained  by  official  inspectors  that 
about  400,000  gallons  of  milk  are  brought  to  New  York  City 
every  day  in  the  cars,  and  that  it  is  the  custom  of  the  dealers 
to  add  a  quart  of  water  to  a  gallon  of  milk.  That  means  a 
daily  robbery  of  the  people  to  the  extent  of  $40,000.  The 
excuse  which  assembled  milkmen  make  for  such  a  crime  is  that 
all  the  whiskey  dealers  also  water  their  stock. 

"  We  have  to  do  it,"  says  the  Sunday-school  publisher  as 
he  binds  up  worthless  books  in  worthless  bindings  to  meet  a 
senseless  demand  for  cheap  books.  '*  The  people  are  to 
blame." 

"  They  have  to  do  it,"  says  a  reviewer,  commenting  on  the 
fact  that  most  of  the  American  novels  of  to-day  are  Frenchy, 
with  some  illicit  love  as  their  central  dish.  He  lays  the  blame 
on  the  people,  saying  that  when  they  demand  purer  fiction  the 
writers  and  publishers  will  furnish  it,  as  if  literature  were  only 
a  camp-follower,  not  a  leader.  "  What  the  people  want  in  a 
newspaper  is  not  only  news,  but  intellectual  and  moral  leader- 
ship. The  chief  writers  for  our  daily  press  are  brave  and 
scholarly  men,  but  they  seem  to  lack  a  large  proportion  of 
characteristic  American  courage  in  their  discussion  of  issues  un- 
popular with  great  leading  parties  in  both  Church  and  State."* 

"  We  have  to  do  it,"  said  a  reporter  of  a  Chicago  daily  to 
General  Logan,  his  personal  friend,  about  whom  he  had  been 
writing  campaign  slanders  at  the  bidding  of  his  employers,  as 
if  he  were  but  an  irresponsible  pen  in  the  hands  of  those  who 
paid  him  ;  as  if  his  employers  would  have  to  take  the  guilt  of 
his  lies  at  the  judgment.  Edward  Everett  Hale  justly  said,  in  a 
recent  speech  to  young  journalists  of  Boston  :  "It  is  pretty 
bad  to  be  engaged  on  Tuesday  writing  up  a  revival,  and  then 
engaged  on  Saturday  on  another  paper  writing  it  down.  The 
press  of  this  country  has  been  losing  influence  for  thirty-five 

*  Joseph  Cook. 


ENVIRONMENT   AND    CHARACTER.  43 

years,  because  the  opinion  is  gaining  that  writers  have  sold  their 
swords. ' ' 

"  We  have  to  do  it,"  says  the  petty  lawyer  as  he  uses  his 
position,  not  to  shield  his  client  from  injustice,  but  rather  to 
accomplish  injustice  by  his  undeserved  acquittal.  He  forgets 
that  he  is  first  a  man,  with  conscience  and  responsibility,  and 
second  a  lawyer. 

Among  cases  of  conscience,  one  of  the  commonest  is  that  of 
the  clerk  or  runner  who  asks  if  it  is  very  wrong  for  him  to  tell 
the  lies  about  prices  and  goods  which  his  employer  requires. 
One  of  the  leaders  of  temperance  work  in  New  York  was  once  a 
runner  for  a  mercantile  house  in  that  city,  by  whom  he  was  in- 
structed to  attach  himself  to  country  buyers  at  the  hotels,  drink 
with  them,  take  them  to  theatres — and  brothels  if  they  wished 
• — anything  to  get  their  trade.  Strange  that  any  employe 
should  for  a  moment  think  that  his  employer's  orders  can 
relieve  him  of  the  moral  responsibility  of  his  own  words  and 
deeds  !  Runners,  reporters  lawyers,  are  first  men,  responsible 
to  God.  When  the  falsifying  runner  goes  to  **  the  lake  of 
fire,"  in  which  "  all  liars  shall  have  a  part,"  where  will  the 
man  be  ? 

This  dilemma  may  be  illustrated  by  a  decision  of  Judge 
Kent,  the  well-known  jurist.  A  man  was  indicted  for  burglary, 
and  the  evidence  showed  that  his  burglary  consisted  in  cutting 
a  hole  through  a  tent  in  which  several  persons  were  sleeping, 
and  then  projecting  his  head  and  arm  through  the  hole  and  ab- 
stracting various  articles  of  value.  It  was  claimed  by  his 
counsel  that,  inasmuch  as  he  did  not  actually  enter  the  tent 
with  his  whole  body,  he  had  not  committed  the  offense 
charged,  and  must,  therefore,  be  discharged.  Judge  Kent,  in 
reply  to  this  plea,  told  the  jury  that  if  they  were  not  satisfied 
that  the  whole  man  was  involved  in  the  crime,  they  might 
bring  in  a  verdict  of  guilty  against  so  much  of  him  as  was  thus 
involved.  The  jury,  after  a  brief  consultation,  found  the  right 
arm,  the  right  shoulder,  and  the  head  of  the  prisoner  guilty  of 
the  offense  of  burglary.  The  judge  sentenced  the  right  arm. 


44  SUCCESSFUL   MEN"   OF   TO-DAY. 

the  right  shoulder,  and  head  to  imprisonment  with  hard  labor 
in  the  State  prison  for  two  years,  remarking  that  as  to  the  rest 
of  his  body  he  might  do  with  it  what  he  pleased.  You  cannot 
separate  your  manhood  and  your  clerkship.  If  one  is  guilty, 
the  other  must  also  bear  the  penalty. 

"  They  all  do  it,  and  so  we  have  to,"  says  the  grocer  as  he 
sells  his  imitations  and  adulterations,  and  puts  his  inferior  fruit 
in  the  bottom  of  his  short-measure  baskets.  "  The  people  are 
to  blame,  for  they  will  have  cheap  goods,  and  if  we  don't  furnish 
these  imitations  they  will  get  them  elsewhere."  It  is  the  old 
excuse  of  Aaron  for  making  the  golden  calf — "  The  people  are 
bent  on  mischief ' — as  if  that  was  a  reason  for  helping  them  on 
in  it.  It  is  the  old  excuse  of  Pilate  as  he  washed  his  hands  of 
all  responsibility  for  the  death  of  Christ,  which  could  not  have 
occurred  without  his  co-operation.  **  The  people,"  he  said, 
"  are  to  blame.  I  have  to  do  it."  But  such  hands  won't 
wash,  and  through  all  countries  and  centuries  the  Church  says 
of  Christ  in  its  creed  that  He  "  suffered  under  Pontius  Pilate." 
So  honesty  suffers  from  the  practices  of  all  who  deceive  and 
defraud  under  the  pretence  that  the  people  will  have  it  so. 

Instead  of  following  Pilate,  let  us  imitate  Nehemiah,  as  he 
says,  in  the  midst  of  fashionable  wrong-doing,  while  they  all 
do  it,  * '  So  did  not  I. ' '  He  did  not  fall  into  the  popular  mis- 
take of  supposing  that  you  can  subtract  the  fraud  of  multiply- 
ing the  thieves.  Multitudes  are  ready  to  say,  "  Oh,  anything 
but  that :  I  can't  be  singular.  I  must  do  as  others  do.  I  shall 
be  talked  about  if  I  don't.  Somebody  will  say  something  un- 
pleasant. ' '  A  modern  Nehemiah,  who  dared  to  be  singular  in 
his  loyalty  to  principle,  was  Hon.  William  E.  Dodge,  who  at  a 
great  dinner  in  Fortress  Monroe,  where  there  was  not  another 
teetotaller,  turned  down  his  wine-glass  ;  who  withdrew  from 
the  Union  League  Club  because  it  sold  wine  to  its  members, 
and  gave  up  his  official  positions  and  profitable  stock  in  three 
railroads  because  they  decided  to  run  Sunday  trains.  He 
would  not  have  even  as  much  part  in  such  a  wrong  as  Saul  had 
in  the  stoning  of  Stephen,  that  of  a  silent  "  consenting." 


ENVIRONMENT   AND   CHARACTER.  45 

President  Hayes  in  his  banishment  of  wine  from  White  House 
dinners  was  another  Nehemiah  who  would  not  exchange  princi- 
ple for  custom.  No  matter  what  the  few  or  many  do,  "  What 
is  that  to  thee  ?"  "  Enter  ye  in  at  the  narrow  gate.'* 

"  They  have  to  do  it,"  says  a  New  York  paper,  apologeti- 
cally, for  the  moonshiners  who  distil  illicit  whiskey  in  North 
Carolina.  It  half  excuses  them  on  the  ground  that  they  can't 
afford  to  pay  the  taxes,  and  have  no  other  way  to  get  money. 

"  We  have  to  keep  it  up  for  revenue,"  says  the  Viceroy  of 
India  of  the  infamous  opium  traffic.  "If  we  don't  do  it, 
somebody  else  will."  "  We  have  to  do  it,"  echoes  Lord 
Hartington  and  the  London  Times. 

In  many  business  careers  there  has  been  a  steady  retreat  of 
conscience  from  breastwork  to  breastwork.  A  young  man  as 
he  starts  out  in  business  promises  himself  that  he  will  be  truth- 
ful in  prices  and  invoices,  and  eschew  all  invitations  and  decep- 
tions— in  short,  that  he  will  conduct  his  business  and  life  on 
Christian  principles.  After  a  while  he  takes  the  Sunday  paper, 
then  advertises  in  it  ;  then  travels  on  Sunday  for  business  or 
pleasure  ;  then  does  a  little  Sunday  trading  ;  and  so  goes  on  to 
deceiving  prices,  double  invoices,  false  labels,  etc.  A  young 
merchant  of  Boston,  whose  firm  for  a  number  of  years  have 
been  slowly  working  their  way  upward  toward  a  commanding 
position,  recently  said,  in  a  tone  of  semi-despair,  that  he  had 
about  come  to  the  conclusion  that  **  to  carry  on  business — their 
business  at  least — on  Christian  principles,  and  make  a  success  of 
it,  was  impossible. ' '  To  succeed  in  any  other  way  is  to  fail. 
Alas  that  there  are  so  many  who  have  surrendered  the  outer 
breastworks  of  strict  integrity  and  are  flying  the  flag  of  the 
cowardly  Erasmus  :  *'  I  will  not  be  unfaithful  to  the  cause  of 
Christ — at  least  as  far  as  the  age  will  permit  me."  A  better 
flag  would  be,  Trust  and  Truth. 


HONESTY  is  not  the  best  policy  ;  the  commonplace  honesty  of  the 
market-place  may  be— the  vulgar  honesty  that  goes  no  farther  than 
paying  debts  accurately  ;  but  that  transparent  Christian  honesty  of 
a  life  which  in  every  act  is  bearing  witness  to  the  truth,  that  is  not 
the  way  to  get  on  in  life  ;  the  reward  of  such  a  life  is  the  Cross.  — 
F.  W.  ROBERTSON. 

When  Regulus  was  sent  by  the  Carthaginians,  whose  prisoner  he 
was,  to  Rome,  with  a  convoy  of  ambassadors  to  sue  for  peace,  it  was 
on  condition  that  he  should  return  to  his  prison  if  peace  was  not 
effected.  He  took  an  oath  to  do  so.  When  he  appeared  at  Rome  he 
urged  the  senators  to  persevere  in  the  war  and  not  to  agree  to  the 
exchange  of  prisoners.  That  advice  involved  his  return  to  captivity. 
The  senators  and  even  the  chief  priest  held  that  as  his  oath  was 
wrested  from  him  by  force,  he  was  not  bound  to  go.  "  Have  you  re- 
solved to  dishonor  nie?"  asked  Regulus.  "I  am  not  ignorant  that 
tortures  and  death  are  preparing  for  me  ;  but  what  are  these  to  the 
shame  of  an  infamous  action,  or  the  wounds  of  a  guilty  mind  ?  Slave 
as  I  am  to  Carthage,  I  have  still  the  spirit  of  a  Roman.  I  have  sworn 
to  return.  It  is  my  duty  to  go.  Let  the  gods  take  care  of  the 
rest."  Regulus  accordingly  returned  to  Carthage  and  was  tortured  to 
death.  — SMILES. 

A  young  man  was  in  a  position  where  his  employers  required  him 
to  make  a  false  statement,  by  which  several  hundred  dollars  would 
come  into  their  hands  that  did  not  belong  to  them.  All  depended  on 
this  clerk's  serving  their  purpose.  To  their  vexation,  he  utterly  re- 
fused to  do  so.  He  could  not  be  induced  to  sell  his  conscience  for 
any  one's  favor.  As  the  result,  he  was  discharged  from  the  place. 
Not  long  after,  he  applied  for  a  vacant  situation,  and  the  gentle- 
man, being  pleased  with  his  address,  asked  him  for  any  good  refer- 
ence he  might  have.  The  young  man  felt  that  his  character  was  un- 
sullied, and  so  fearlessly  referred  him  to  his  last  employer.  "  I  have 
just  been  dismissed  from  his  employ,  and  you  can  inquire  of  him 
about  me."  It  was  a  new  fashion  of  getting  a  young  man's  recom- 
mendations, but  the  gentleman  called  on  the  firm,  and  found  that 
the  only  objection  was  that  he  was  "  too  conscientious  about  trifles." 
The  gentleman  had  not  been  greatly  troubled  by  too  conscientious 
employes,  and  preferred  that  those  intrusted  with  his  money  should 
have  a  fine  sense  of  truth  and  honesty  ;  so  he  engaged  the  young 
man,  who  rose  fast  in  favor,  and  became  at  length  a  partner  in  one 
of  the  largest  firms  in  Boston.  "  A  good  name  is  rather  to  be  chosen 
than  great  riches. "  Even  unscrupulous  men  know  the  worth  of  good 
principles  that  cannot  be  moved. 


V. 

COMMERCIAL   COURAGE. 

If  there  be  one  thing  upon  this  earth  that  mankind  love  and  admire 
better  than  another  it  is  a  brave  man— it  is  the  man  who  dares  to 
look  the  devil  in  the  face  and  tell  him  he  is  a  devil. — GARFIELD. 

Certain  naouthfuls  of  articulate  wind  will  be  blown  at  us,  and  this 
what  mortal  courage  can  front  ?— CAKLYLE. 

"  Budge,"  says  the  Fiend.  "  Budge  not,"  says  my  conscience. — 
Launcelot,  in  Shakespeare's  Merchant  of  Venice. 

"Why  should  we  be  afraid  of  anything  with  Him  looking  at  us  who 
is  the  Saviour  of  men  ?  — GEOBGE  MAcDoNALD. 

I  KNOW  full  well  by  some  experience  in  business  life  that  to 
"  trust  in  God  and  do  the  right"  is  easier  said  than  done.  It 
is  not  easy,  nor  is  it  impossible.  It  takes  the  courage  of  an 
Arnold  Winkelried  to  break  through  the  serried  spears  of  a 
wicked  fashion.  But  are  there  not  brave  Winkelrieds  in  busi- 
ness life  as  well  as  in  soldiery,  who  will  break  the  lines  of 
wrong  even  if  it  breaks  them  ?  Who  has  the  courage  to  abol- 
ish sham  prices  and  unfair  discounts  and  restore  the  one-price 
system  which  Stewart  courageously  introduced  at  a  time  when 
it  was  no  more  needed  than  it  is  to-day  in  certain  circles  of 
business  ?  I  do  not  believe  such  honesty  leads  to  any  loss  in 
the  end,  but  if  it  should  it  would  be  more  than  compensated  in 
the  saving  of  conscience  to  the  runners,  and  the  cleanness  of  the 
money  received.  It  requires  a  courage  greater  than  that  which 
faces  a  cannon  to  repudiate  a  business  custom  that  is  at  the 
same  time  dishonest  and  popular  ;  but  if  you  as  a  Christian  man 
do  not  thus  meet  the  issue,  "  What  do  ye  more  than  others  ?" 
Why  carry  the  oars  of  Christianity  if  you  are  going  to  drift 


48  SUCCESSFUL   ME2S"   OF   TO-DAY. 

with  the  current  ?  Such  drifting  is  rebuked  by  the  courage  of 
one  of  the  Chinese  converts  in  New  York,  who  refused  to  work 
on  Sunday  at  the  peril  of  losing  a  lucrative  position.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  about  the  genuineness  of  his  conversion,  what- 
ever we  may  think  of  those  who  in  such  cases  obey  man  rather 
than  God. 

Goethe  says  that  "  for  the  flowering  of  the  best  gifts  circum- 
stances must  be  propitious,  but  the  paramount  function  of  the 
gifted  is  to  resist  old  circumstances  and  create  new  ones  ;  to 
break  through  the  surroundings  and  fences  of  timorous  customs 
and  leap  toward  success. ' ' 

If  it  is  the  privilege  of  the  gifted  to  resist  adverse  circum- 
stances, much  more  is  it  the  duty  of  the  godly. 

Oh  for  a  heroic  period  in  this  grandest  and  rarest  of  heroisms 
— the  daring  to  be  right  and  do  right  against  social  or  com- 
mercial fashions  and  customs  —  the  daring  to  be  singular  and 
peculiar  in  utter  loyalty  to  truth  ! 

What  if  a  man  should  sacrifice  his  fortune,  or  even  starve  as 
a  martyr  to  honesty,  as  others  have  done  for  God  and  home 
and  native  land  ?  The  man  who  should  fail,  and  if  need  be 
starve,  rather  than  adulterate  his  goods  for  successful  competi- 
tion, might  not  be  canonized  in  this  world,  but  in  the  God's-eye 
view  he  would  be  one  of  "  the  noble  army  of  martyrs,"  no  less 
glorious  than  if  he  had  lost  his  property  and  life  in  the  persecu- 
tions of  Nero.  Oh  for  men  who  would  die  rather  than  lie,* 
who  would  starve  rather  than  cheat  !  We  need  the  Jennie 
Deans  type  of  integrity,  that  cannot  be  bribed  to  falsehood  even 
by  the  peril  of  loved  ones. 

*  The  catechism  of  the  "  reformed  "  Jews,  which  is  called  "  Doc- 
trines of  Faith  and  Morals  for  Jewish  Schools  and  Families,"  and  is 
published  by  Terrell,  Dietz  &  Co.,  of  Louisville,  Ky.,  wisely  devotes 
considerable  space  to  cases  of  conscience,  but  discusses  them  very  un- 
wisely. For  instance,  it  says,  "  The  laws  of  the  Thorah  [Pentateuch] 
must  be  suspended  in  case  of  personal  danger,  excepting  the  worship 
of  idols,  incest,  and  murder."  See  also  pp.  123,  138,  148,  157,  162, 
which  permit  lying  in  emergencies,  etc. 


COMMERCIAL     COURAGE.  49 

Christ  said,  ll  Defraud  not."  No  circumstances  or  environ- 
ment can  make  a  man  disobey  that  law. 

A  wealthy  lady  of  Canada,  when  she  became  a  Christian,  felt 
that  she  ought  to  recommend  religion  to  others  by  speaking  in 
the  prayer-meeting.  She  feared  that  she  would  break  down, 
but  said,  at  length,  "/  can  at  least  stand  up  and  fail  for 
Christ."  Have  you  courage  as  a  business  man  to  fail  toward 
earth  to  keep  from  failing  toward  heaven  ?  "  The  only  failure 
a  man  ought  to  fear  is  failure  in  cleaving  to  the  purpose  seen 
to  be  best." 

But  men  seldom  fail  by  being  too  honest.  "  Godliness  has 
promise  of  the  life  that  now  is."  David  never  saw  the  right- 
eous begging  bread.  We  seldom  do.  Integrity  brought  no 
loss  to  Job,  Abraham,  Joseph,  Moses,  Daniel,  and  the  three 
worthies,  all  of  whom  dared  to  maintain  a  higher  moral  stand- 
ard than  the  people  about  them. 

The  raising  of  tobacco,  whose  influence  is  only  evil  and  that 
continually,  and  the  raising  of  hops  or  corn  or  rye  directly  for 
the  production  of  intoxicating  drinks — questions  of  conscience 
with  many  farmers — suggest  the  following  story  as  a  partial 
solution  of  the  difficulties.  Senator  Voorhees,  of  Indiana,  in  a 
recent  speech  against  the  prohibitory  amendment,  asked  the 
following  question  :  "  My  farmer  friends,  what  is  to  become  of 
your  great  corn  crop  in  this  county  if  prohibition  is  adopted  ?" 
An  old  Democratic  farmer  rose  and  said,  "  Do  you  really 
want  an  answer  to  that  question,  Mr.  Voorhees  ?"  "  Yes,  my 
friend,"  said  the  Senator,  straightening  himself  to  his  full 
height,  "I  am  seeking  for  information."  "Well,  then," 
replied  the  farmer,  "  I  will  tell  you  what  we  will  do  with  our 
corn  crop.  We  will  raise  more  pork  and  less  hell."  That 
recalls  a  temperance  boy's  saying  :  "  If  I  was  as  poor  as  a  knit- 
ting-needle, and  hadn't  any  more  money  than  a  hen  has  teeth, 
rd  never  sell  rum." 

Many  men  have  said  to  rne,  "  I  can't  be  a  Christian  in  my 
business,  for  there  are  many  things  we  have  to  do  because  others 
do  them,  that  I  couldn't  do  if  I  was  a  Christian,  and  I  can't 


50  SUCCESSFUL  MEtf   OF  TO-DAY. 

leave  the  business  without  running  the  risk  of  having  nothing 
to  support  my  family,  and  a  man  must  live."  "  For  a  piece 
of  bread  that  man  will  transgress." 

Yes,  a  man  must  live — FOREVER.  There's  the  rub.  He  had 
better  take  no  risk  of  ruining  that  forever  by  cowardly  surren- 
ders to  dishonest  customs,  which  are  wrong  for  him  as  a  man 
as  surely  as  for  a  Christian.  Religion  cuts  o2  nothing  that  U 
right.  Wrong  is  wrong,  regardless  of  church  books.  Better  a 
dinner  of  herbs  with  a  hope  for  that  forever  than  a  stalled  ox 
with  a  guilty  conscience  and  a  dread  of  judgment  to  come. 
"  They  all  do  it,"  perhaps,  but  '•''Every  man  shall  give  account 
of  himself  to  God. ' ' 

History  shows  that  a  true  man  can  be  a  Christian  in  the  most 
unfavorable  environment,  if  he  cannot  escape  from  it,  as  Christ, 
in  the  corrupt  surroundings  of  Nazareth,  "  did  no  sin." 
11  Man  without  religion  is  the  creature  of  circumstances  ;  but 
religion  is  above  all  circumstances,  and  will  lift  him  above 
them."  Samaria  was  notoriously  corrupt,  but  there  were 
"  good  Samaritans."  Abraham,  during  nearly  all  his  godly 
life,  was  environed  by  those  who  worshipped  idols.  "  They 
all  did  it,"  but  he  didn't.  His  example  led  others  out  of  their 
fashionable  sins.  Joseph,  when  he  was  with  the  idolatrous 
Egyptians,  did  as  the  Egyptians  ought  to  do,  worshipped  and 
proclaimed  the  true  God.  His  courage  brought  him  gain 
rather  than  loss.  In  the  palace  of  infamous  Ahab  lived  a 
godly  prophet — Obadiah.  The  king  ordered  the  murder  of 
certain  good  men.  Obadiah  did  not  obey,  saying,  "  I  have  to 
do  it  because  my  employer  requires  it,"  but  rather  he  dared  to 
do  right  at  the  risk  of  his  life,  and  saved  them.  He  was  a 
saint  in  Jezebel's  household.  If  one  could  be  a  saint  there,  it 
is  possible  anywhere. 

Daniel  was  a  saint  in  the  corrupt  and  idolatrous  households 
of  Darius  and  Belshazzar.  He  dared  to  stand  alone  for  princi- 
ple, and  instead  of  losing  his  head,  crowned  it.  The  boy  did 
not  make  much  of  a  mistake  who  read  that  verse  about 


COMMERCIAL    COURAGE.  51 

Daniel's  spirit,  "  As  for  this  Daniel,  an  excellent  spine  was  in 
him."  We  need  more  men  of  moral  backbone. 

I  would  like  to  hang  in  business  establishments,  where  little 
or  large  dishonesties  are  every  day  excused  because  "  They  all 
do  it,"  the  picture  of  the  three  worthies  out  on  the  plains  of 
Babylon,  refusing  to  bend  with  the  multitude  in  the  worship  of 
gold,  even  though  the  threatening  furnace  blazed  before  them. 
Some  would  have  said  in  such  a  case,  "  A  man  must  live,  and 
we  shall  lose  our  political  offices  if  we  don't  do  as  others  do. 
We  have  to  do  it."  How  mwch  manlier  their  brave  "We 
will  not,"  and  their  unbending  integrity  !  When  principle 
bids  us  stand  upright,  it  is  better  to  break  than  to  bend.  How- 
ever, they  did  not  lose  by  their  loyalty  to  principle.  Such  tried 
integrity  is  sure  to  win  promotion  at  last,  even  though  there  is 
a  furnace  trial  at  first.  Under  that  picture  I  would  write  the 
motto  of  a  prominent  Bostonian — 

"  They  are  slaves  would  dare  not  be 
In  the  right  with  two  or  three. ' ' 

I  had  rather  be  right  alone  than  wrong  with  any  one  or  all. 
In  a  multitude  of  counsellors  there  is  safety  only  when  God  and 
Conscience  are  chief. 

Add  to  these  saints  in  heathen  households,*  Mordecai  in  the 
palace  of  the  corrupt  Ahasuerus,  and  Nehemiah  in  the  godless 
mansion  of  Artaxerxes,  and,  most  wonderful  of  all,  "  Saints  in 
Cesar's,  that  is,  Nero's  household." 

Nero,  as  you  know  well,  was  a  human  tiger  who  delighted  in 
blood,  especially  the  blood  of  Christians,  hundreds  of  whom  he 
butchered  in  the  arena  to  make  a  Roman  holiday — the  corrupt 
people  finding  as  rare  sport  in  the  death-agony  of  the  Chris- 
tians whose  purity  rebuked  them,  as  did  their  heartless  em- 
peror. The  petty  persecutions  which  Christians  had  to  bear  in 
Caesar's  household  every  day  may  be  inferred  from  the  rough 
picture  on  the  ruins  of  the  imperial  palace  at  Rome,  represent- 

*  Female  saints  also  in  such  households—  Esther,  and  the  wife  of 
Chuzas,  Herod's  steward  (Luke  8  :  3). 


52  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

ing  an  ass  nailed  to  a  cross  and  a  person  kneeling  to  it,  while 
below  are  the  words,  "  Cebes  worshipping  his  God."  To  Ro- 
mans as  well  as  Greeks  the  cross  was  foolishness,  and  Cebes  and 
other  saints  in  Csesar's  household  were  the  butt  of  ceaseless 
ridicule  for  their  faith,  which  doubtless  in  the  end  cost  them 
their  lives.  And  yet  in  the  most  unfavorable  environment  they 
were  "  saints."  *  If  they  did  it  you  can  do  it,  by  a  "  world- 
and-devil-proof  goodness." 

*  Ulhorn,  in  his  "  Conflict  of  Christianity  with  Heathenism,  "thus 
describes  the  comm'ercial  courage  of  the  early  Christians  of  Home  : 
"  Not  merely  at  church,  but  at  home  also,  in  their  vocations  and  on 
the  street,  Christians  desired  to  appear  as  Christians.  They  guarded 
with  the  greatest  care  against  any  connection  with  heathenism  ;  they 
avoided  with  the  utmost  conscientiousness  everything  which  could  in 
any  way  be  construed  as  a  denial  of  their  faith.  Difficult,  indeed, 
must  have  been  their  task,  for  their  entire  life  was  compassed  by  a 
network  of  heathen  customs  which  a  Christian  must  every  moment 
rend  if  he  would  remain  true  to  his  God. 

"  Many  special  relations  of  life  brought  the  Christians  into  still 
more  difficult  situations.  A  master  would  order  a  Christian  slave  to 
do  something  wholly  unobjectionable  from  a  heathen  point  of  view, 
but  sinful  according  to  a  Christian  standard,  and  yet  the  slave  was 
completely  in  the  power  of  his  master,  who  could  have  him,  if  diso- 
bedient, tortured,  and  even  killed.  How  should  the  Christian  wife, 
who  had  a  heathen  husband,  fulfil  her  Christian  obligations,  attend 
divine  worship,  visit  the  sick,  entertain  strangers,  distribute  alms, 
without  offending  her  husband  ?  How  could  the  officer  or  the  sol- 
dier perform  his  duties  without  denying  his  faith  ?  For  long  the  two 
callings  were  deemed  incompatible,  and  the  officer  preferred  to  re- 
sign his  position,  the  soldier  to  leave  the  ranks,  rather  than  to  give 
up  his  Christian  profession.  Those  who  could  not  do  this  were  of- 
ten obliged  to  purchase  fidelity  to  their  Lord  with  their  blood.  Many 
a  person  also,  in  order  to  become  and  remain  a  Christian,  must  have 
relinquished  the  trade  or  employment  which  brought  him  a  liveli- 
hood. All  who  had  obtained  a  support  by  the  heathen  cultus,  ser- 
vants, and  laborers  in  the  temples,  idol-makers,  sellers  of  incense,  as 
well  as  actors,  fencing-masters  in  the  gladiatorial  schools,  etc.,  were 
admitted  by  the  Church  to  baptism  only  on  condition  that  they 
should  abandon  their  occupations,  and  whoever  as  a  Christian  engaged 
in  such  employments  was  excluded  from  fellowship." 


COMMERCIAL    COURAGE.  53 

And  now  for  my  last  and  most  important  word  about  envi- 
ronment. A  newspaper  editor  in  Boston  said  to  Wendell  Phil- 
lips, "  I  will  print  your  address  if  you  will  leave  off  that  last 
sentence."  He  replied,  "  I  wrote  it  all  just  to  say  that."  I 
have  gathered  and  given  these  facts  about  environment  in  order 
to  say,  with  all  the  emphasis  they  give,  that  no  surroundings, 
however  unfavorable,  can  keep  a  true  man  from  true  success,  that 
is,  from  usefulness  here  and  Heaven  hereafter.  You  can  win 
by  will  and  work  and  the  blessing  of  God,  who  helps  those  that 
help  themselves. 


BUSINESS   MAXIMS   FEOM   THE   NEW   TESTAMENT. 

BE  not  slothful  in  business.  Owe  no  man  anything.  Let  no  man 
go  beyond  and  defraud  his  brother  in  any  matter.  Look  not  every 
man  on  his  own  things,  but  every  man  also  on  the  things  of  another. 
Bear  ye  one  another's  burdens.  Whatsoever  ye  would  that  men 
should  do  to  you,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them.  Do  good  unto  all  men. 

FRANKLIN'S  MORAL  CODE. 

Silence. — Speak  not  but  what  may  benefit  others  or  yourself  ;  avoid 
trifling  conversation.  Order. — Let  all  your  things  have  their  places  ; 
let  each  part  of  your  business  have  its  time.  Resolution.— Eesolve  to 
perform  what  you  ought ;  perform  without  fail  what  you  resolve. 
Frugality.— Make  no  expense,  but  do  good  to  others  as  yourself  ;  that 
is,  waste  nothing.  Industry. — Lose  no  time  ;  be  always  employed  in 
something  useful,  but  avoid  all  unnecessary  actions.  Sincerity. — Use 
no  hurtful  deceit  ;  think  innocently  and  justly  ;  and  if  you  speak, 
speak  accordingly.  Justice. — Wrong  no  one  by  doing  injuries,  or 
omitting  the  benefits  that  are  your  duty.  Moderat ion.  —Avoid  ex- 
tremes ;  forbear  resenting  injuries.  Cleanliness.  —Suffer  no  unclean- 
liness  in  body,  clothes,  or  habitation.  Tranquillity.—  Be  not  dis- 
turbed about  trifles,  or  at  accidents  common  or  unavoidable.  Hu- 
mility.— Imitate  Jesus  Christ. 

BUSKIN'S   MOTTOES   FOR   LABORERS. 

1.  Do  your  own  work  well,  whether  it  be  for  life  or  death.  2.  Help 
other  people  at  theirs  when  you  can,  and  seek  to  avenge  no  injury. 

3.  Be  sure  you  can  obey  good  laws  before  you  seek  to  alter  bad  ones. 

4.  Rather  die  than  make  any  destroying  mechanism  or  compound. 

HINDOO   SCHOOL-BOOK   MOTTOES. 

"Give  charity  willingly  ;  Test,  ere  thou  make  a  friend  ; 

Give,  then  dine  heartily.  Made,  hold  on  to  the  end. 

Keep  down  an  angry  thought ;  Sleep  on  silk-cotton  bed  ; 

Impatiently  say  not  aught.  Rest  not  too  long  thy  head. 

The  giver  thou  hinder  not.  Do  well  whatever  you  do  ; 

Thine  own  wealth  trumpet  not.  Enter'd  on,  carry  through. 

Say  not '  'Tis  impossible '  ;  Speak  not  deceitfully, 

Stout-hearted,  thou  art  able.  Hard  words,  nor  angrily. 

Walk  thou  most  orderly  ;  Speak  not  the  marvellous  ; 

Study  thou  steadily.  Eschew  the  gambling-house. 

Learning  do  not  despise,  Waste  not  thy  property  ; 

And  in  youth  become  wise.  Spoil  not  thou  greedily. 

In  season  sow  and  toil  ;  Stand  in  the  royal  way, 

Live  not  on  wrested  soil.  And  with  the  learned  stay. 

Spsak  thou  to  edify  ;  Cleave  to  thy  kith  and  kin  ; 

Do  what  will  dignify.  A  house  that's  large  live  not  in. 

Mother  and  father  feed.  What  you  see,  that  only  eay  ; 

Remember  a  kindly  deed.  With  a  serpent  do  not  play."- 

AVVIAB,  a  Hindoo  Pariah. 


VI. 

BUSINESS  MAXIMS,  BAD   AND  GOOD. 

Portia.  Good  sentences,  and  well  pronounced. 
Nerisa.  They  would  be  better  if  well  followed. 

SHAKESPEARE. 

A  WELL-KNOWN  writer  once  said  to  me,  "  George  MacDon- 
ald's  books  came  into  my  life  like  an  influence."  Everything 
one  reads  makes  upon  him  some  impression,  for  good  or  ill,  but 
there  are  some  authors  that  enter  into  his  very  soul  with  destiny- 
shaping  power.  Thus  came  Cotton  Mather's  "  Essays  to  do 
Good  "  into  the  early  life  of  Franklin,  and  made  it  his  highest 
ambition  to  be  "  a  doer  of  good."  Thus  came  Homer's  Iliad 
and  Odyssey  into  the  mind  of  Schliemann,  as  he  listened  in  the 
evenings  of  boyhood  to  translations  of  these  works,  read  aloud 
by  his  father,  who  knew  no  Greek.  The  boy's  enthusiasm  was 
thus  roused  to  promise  that  in  manhood  he  would  discover  (as 
he  has)  the  ruins  of  Troy — a  suggestion  of  the  benefits  that 
may  come  to  many  by  even  such  a  knowledge  of  the  classics  as 
they  can  pick  up  in  evenings  and  by  translations,  through  such 
a  plan  of  reading  as  that  of  the  C.  L.  S.  C.* 

Emerson's  book  on-  Nature  came  into  Tyndall's  life  like  an 
influence  and  made  him  a  naturalist.  Thus  came  Ruskin's 
works  to  Henry  Ward  Beecher,  to  teach  him  the  secret  of 
seeing.  Thus  "  Things  New  and  Old  "  helped  to  make  D.  L. 
Moody  a  great  expositor.  \  Thus  the  book  of  Proverbs,  used 

*  For  particulars  write  to  Kev.  J.  H,  Vincent,  D.D.,  New  Haven, 
Conn. 

f  Shakespeare's  favorite  writers  were  Plutarch  and  Montaigne. 
Milton's  favorite  books  were  Homer,  Ovid,  and  Euripides.  The  lat- 


56  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

as  a  first  reader  in  the  public  schools  of  Scotland,  has  made  its 
people  terse  in  speech  and  industrious  in  action.  It  ought  to 
be  studied  in  every  business  college,  that  it  might  come  into 
all  commercial  life  like  an  influence,  and  make  merchants  more 
universally  true  in  speech  and  wise  in  action. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  records  of  crime  show  that  sensa- 
tional stories  of  vice  have  come  into  many  lives  as  a  destroying 
influence.  Such  literature  stands  only  second  to  liquors  among 
the  devil's  recruiting  officers.  Shop  windows  filled  with 
tempting  pictures  that  poison  the  mind  ought  to  be  prohibited 
as  surely  as  those  filled  with  bottles  of  alcoholic  poison  for  the 
body. 

Not  only  books  and  papers,  but  even  single  sentences  often 
serve,  like  a  railroad  switch,  to  turn  a  life  into  the  right  or 
wrong  track.  A  maxim  or  motto  has  com.e  into  many  a  life 
like  an  influence.  That  watchword  of  Christian  society,  "  The 
greatest  good  of  the  greatest  number,"  which  caught  the  eye 
of  Jeremy  Benthaui  in  youth,  made  him  a  great  political 
economist,  seeking  to  work  out  that  motto  in  society. 

Similar  illustrations  of  the  power  of  proverbs  are  given  in  the 

ter  book  was  also  the  favorite  of  Charles  James  Fox,  who  regarded 
the  study  of  it  as  especially  useful  to  a  public  speaker.  On  the  other 
hand,  Pitt  took  a  special  delight  in  Milton — whom  Fox  did  not  ap- 
preciate—taking pleasure  in  reciting  from  "  Paradise  Lost ' '  the  grand 
speech  of  Belial  before  the  assembled  powers  of  Pandemonium. 
Another  favorite  book  of  Pitt's  was  Newton's  "Principia."  Again, 
the  Earl  of  Chatham's  favorite  book  was  "  Barrow's  Sermons,"  which 
he  read  so  often  as  to  be  able  to  repeat  them  from  memory  ;  while 
Burke's  companions  were  Demosthenes,  Milton,  Bolingbroke,  and 
Young's  "  Night  Thoughts. "  This  last  was  one  of  Garfield's  favorite 
books.  The  books  that  came  into  Guthrie's  life  like  an  influence, 
besides  the  Bible,  were  Shakespeare,  Scott's  novels,  "Pilgrim's  Prog- 
ress," and  Burns's  poems.  Dante's  favorite  was  Virgil,  Corneille's 
was  Lucan,  Schiller's  was  Shakespeare,  Gray's  was  Spenser,  while 
Coleridge  admired  Collins  and  Bowles.  Dante  himself  was  a  favorite 
with  most  great  poets,  from  Chaucer  to  Byron  and  Tennyson.  Lord 
Brougham,  Macaulay,  and  Carlyle  have  alike  admired  and  eulogized 
the  great  Italian.  The  former  advised  the  students  at  Glasgow,  that, 


BUSINESS  MAXIMS,  BAD    AND   ftOOI).  57 

replies  I  have  received  from  hundreds  of  prominent  men  to  the 
question,  "  What  maxims  or  watchwords,  if  any,  have  had  a 
powerful  influence  on  your  life  and  helped  to  your  success  ?" 
Two  thirds  of  those  replying  to  the  circular  of  inquiries  recog- 
nize no  watchword  as  worthy  of  being  called  a  special  influence 
in  their  lives,  but  from  the  others  a  very  interesting  list  of  such 
mottoes  has  been  collected,  mostly  the  old  ones,  which  have 
been  so  long  the  true  "  common  law"  of  the  world — prov- 
erbs that  are  more  powerful  than  parties  ;  maxims  that  are 
mightier  than  magistrates.  Let  Christian  wisdom  write  the 
watchwords  of  a  nation,  and  I  care  little  who  makes  its  more 
formal  laws. 

Many  a  man  appeals  daily  to  some  proverb,  good  or  bad,  as 
his  supreme  court.  The  proverb  is  his  infallible  pope.  Some 
of  the  maxims  to  which  men  thus  appeal  as  the  end  of  con- 
troversy are  false,  or,  worse  than  that,  half  true.  The  devil, 
as  well  as  God,  has  a  book  of  proverbs.  Satan  is  too  wise  not 
to  utilize  the  might  of  maxims.  As  he  fights  good  songs  with 
bad,  pure  literature  with  impure,  Christian  sermons  with  in- 
fidel lectures,  the  fire  of  the  Holy  Spirit  with  the  fires  of 

next  to  Demosthenes,  the  study  of  Dante  was  the  best  preparative  for 
the  eloquence  of  the  pulpit  or  the  bar.  Eobert  Hall  sought  relief  in 
Dante  from  the  racking  pains  of  spinal  disease,  and  Sidney  Smith 
took  to  the  same  poet  for  comfort  and  solace  in  his  old  age.  It  was 
characteristic  of  Goethe  that  his  favorite  book  should  have  been  Spi- 
noza's "  Ethics,"  in  which  he  said  he  had  found  a  peace  and  conso- 
lation such  as  he  had  been  able  to  find  in  no  other  work.  It  seems 
odd  that  Marshal  Blucher's  favorite  book  should  have  been  Klop- 
stock's  "  Messiah,"  and  Napoleon  Bonaparte's  favorites  Ossian's 
"  Poems"  and  the  "  Sorrows  of  Werther."  But  Napoleon's  range  of 
reading  was  very  extensive.  It  included  Homer,  Virgil,  Tasso,  nov- 
els of  all  countries,  histories  of  all  time,  mathematics,  legislation, 
and  theology.  He  detested  what  he  called  the  "  bombast  and  tinsel " 
of  Voltaire.  The  praises  of  Homer  and  Ossian  he  was  never  wearied 
of  sounding.  "  Read  again,"  he  said  to  an  officer  on  board  the  Bel- 
lerophon— "  read  again  the  poet  of  Achilles  ;  devour  Ossian.  Those 
are  the  poets  who  lift  up  the  soul  and  give  to  a  man  a  colossal  great, 
ness." 


58  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

passion,  so  lie  fights  good  maxims  with  bad  ones.  We  have 
to  fight  not  only  against  his  principalities  and  power*,  but  also 
against  his  proverbs  of  darkness.  As  it  has  been  said  of  a 
true  proverb,  that  "  it  is  the  wisdom  of  many,  the  wit  of  one," 
so  a  false  proverb  is  the  wickedness  of  many,  the  lie  of  one. 
A  good  proverb  is  concentrated  wisdom  ;  a  bad  one  con- 
centrated lie.  And  yet  these  proverbial  lies  are  many  of 
them  so  adulterated  with  truth  that  good  men,  as  well  as  bad, 
are  constantly  quoting  them  as  if  they  were  established  laws  of 
final  appeal. 

"  All  that  a  man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life,"  said  Satan, 
the  father  of  lies,  whose  very  name  means  slanderer  ;  but  a 
New  York  judge,  in  his  charge  to  the  jury  at  a  murder  trial, 
said,  "  We  have  the  highest  authority  for  saying,  *  All  that  a 
man  hath  will  he  give  for  his  life.'  '  Evidently  there  are 
several  of  our  judges,  and  not  a  few  juries,  who  look  to  the 
same  being  as  their  '  highest  authority. '  It  is  so  at  least  with 
those  who  warm  over  that  old  saying  of  Satan  into  the  new 
saying,  "  Every  man  has  his  price."  That  proverb  is  doubt- 
less true  of  every  man  who  quotes  it  as  true.  A  man  will  not 
give  all  that  he  hath  for  his  life.  The  lie  is  erased  by  the 
blood  of  a  million  martyrs  to  patriotism  and  religion,  and 
even  by  the  martyrs  of  commerce,  the  railway  engineers  and 
steamboat  pilots  who  have  sacrificed  their  own  lives  to  save  the 
passengers.  If  we  sent  only  true  men  to  conventions  and  con- 
gresses, to  the  bench  and  jury  box,  a  railroad  king  would  not 
be  able  to  boast  that  he  "  bought  his  law  by  the  year,"  nor 
could  political  kings  buy  with  patronage  the  nomination  for  the 
governorship  of  a  State  as  a  delicious  feast  of  revenge.  Some 
bipeds  have  their  price,  but  no  men.  If  the  old  law  maxim  is 
true,  "  Things  are  worth  what  they  will  sell  for,"  some  of  our 
legislators  have  little  worth.  There  are  locks  that  a  golden  key 
will  not  open.  As  if  to  rebuke  the  proverb  "  Good  as  gold," 
which  makes  gold  the  summum  bonum,  the  highest  good,  the 
Bible  exclaims,  "  How  much  better  is  it  to  get  wisdom  than 
gold  !"  With  some  human  beings  the  penny's  mightier  than 


BUSINESS   MAXIMS,  BAD   AND    GOOD.  59 

the  sword,  sure  enough  ;  but  money  does  not  rule  the  world, 
only  the  worldly.  Truth  is  mightier,  and  prevails  in  the  hearts 
of  all  true  men. 

The  devil's  proverb,  "  When  you  are  in  Rome  do  as  the 
Romans  do,"  would  excuse  any  vice  if  one  could  only  find  a 
place  where  it  is  fashionable — polygamy  if  he  was  in  Utah, 
idolatry  in  China,  murder  in  southern  Ireland,  licentiousness  in 
India.  Doing  as  the  Romans  did  ruined  Rome,  and  doing  as 
this  proverb  teaches  works  the  same  way.  When  you  are  with 
the  Romans,  do  as  the  Romans  ought  to  do.  That  was  Paul's 
practice,  if  not  his  proverb.  Doing  as  the  Romans  did  would 
have  ruined  him  and  all  who  followed  his  example.  Doing  as 
the  Romans  ought  to  do  saved  Romans  enough  to  make  a 
church. 

That  proverb  of  Satan's  crowned  satraps,  "  Might  makes 
right,"  cannot  stand  even  with  the  apologies  of  Carlyle  and 
Ruskin  to  bolster  it  up.  Let  us  write  over  it  Lincoln's  motto, 
"Right  makes  might." 

That  saying,  "A  promise  to  heretics  need  not  be  kept," 
was  custom-made  in  hell  as  a  cloak  for  thieves. 

Of  two  evils  choose — neither.  When  a  negro  preacher  said, 
"  Dere  am  two  ways  tro  life — one  de  broad  and  narrow  way 
dat  leadeth  to  perdition,  and  de  oder  de  narrow  and  broad  way 
dat  leads  to  sure  destruction,"  a  hearer  responded,  "Den  I 
takes  to  de  woods."  Between  two  wrong  paths  or  parties, 
choose  neither.  God's  law  is,  "Abstain  from  every  form  of 
evil." 

Honesty  is  the  only  policy.  Nothing  is  so  hard  as  to  make 
a  fortune  dishonestly.  "He  that  walketh  uprightly  walketh 
surely  ;  but  he  that  perverteth  his  ways  shall  be  known." 

The  materialist  is  false  to  the  dictionary  as  well  as  the  Bible 
when  he  says,  "  Seeing  is  believing."  Seeing  is  knowing. 
Belief  applies  only  to  what  we  have  received  on  the  evidence 
of  others. 

Even  the  proverb,  "  To  the  pure  all  things  are  pure," 
although  quoted  from  the  Bible,  is  usually  applied  in  such  a 


X 
60  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

way  as  to  make  it  over  into  proverb  of  the  devil,  who  can  quote 
Scripture  for  his  purpose.  Is  a  brothel  pure  to  a  pure  man  ? 
To  the  pure  impurity  is  doubly  impure,  as  to  God  all  sin  is 
exceedingly  sinful.  Evil  things  make  evil  thinks. 

How  great  is  the  spell  of  that  proverb,  "  Nothing  but  good 
of  the  dead  !"  Truer  is  that  other  saying,  begotten  of  it, 
"  He  lies  like  a  tombstone  ;"  The  Bible  says  on  this  subject  : 
"  The  name  of  the  wicked  shall  rot;"  "When  the  wicked 
perish  there  is  shouting"  (Prov.  10  :  7  ;  11  :  10).  Let  the 
proverb  be,  "  Nothing  but  truth  of  the  dead,  and  a  good  word 
now  and  then  for  the  living." 

"  In  vino  veritas"  (that  is,  true  when  drunk)  cries  the  wine- 
bibber.  Nay,  though  wine  may  reveal  secrets,  a  husband  is 
never  so  untrue  as  when  alcohol  rules  him. 

Instead  of  crediting  slander  by  the  proverb,  "  Where  there 
is  so  much  smoke  there  must  be  some  fire,"  let  us  say,  When 
the  smoke  of  slander  comes  from  the  lips,  there  must  be  some 
fire  of  envy  or  jealousy  or  malice  or  gossip-mania  within. 

All  is  not  well  that  ends  well.  If  it  were,  the  devil's  work 
on  Job  and  Judas  would  be  well,  since  God's  overruling  made 
it  end  well.  If  it  were,  the  firing  on  Sumter  would  have  been 
well,  since  it  ended  in  emancipation.  We  are  not  licensed  to 
do  evil  that  good  may  come.  Good  never  comes  of  evil,  but 
sometimes  in  spite  of  it,  when  God  makes  the  wrath  of  man  to 
praise  Him.  Nothing  but  its  own  justice  justifies  a  deed.  In- 
stead of  the  false  proverb,  "  The  end  justifies  the  means,"  let 
us  adopt  that  motto  of  a  prominent  Boston  professor,  "  I  will 
lay  down  my  life  to  save  my  country  ;  I  will  not  do  a  base 
thing  to  save  it." 

Spoils  do  not  belong  to  the  victors,  but  to  those  from  whom 
they  are  robbed.  So  the  police  believe,  and  return  all  the  spoils 
they  capture. 

"Never  too  late  to  mend,"  do  you  say?  Ask  the  re- 
formers, two  thirds  of  whose  recruits  from  drunkenness  relapse 
and  die  intemperate.  "  Never  too  old  to  learn"  ?  Ask  the 
miser,  who  tries  in  vain  in  his  old  age  to  put  God  and  gen- 


BUSINESS   MAXIMS,  BAD   AND   GOOD.  61 

erosity  in  place  of  gold  in  the  throne  of  his  heart.  Habit  is 
second  nature,  but  not  second  to  nature.  It  rules  or  ruins,  or 
both. 

Never  put  off  until  to-morrow  what  ought  to  be  done  to-day. 
There  are  many  things  that  can  be  done  to-day  that  ought  to  be 
put  off  forever. 

"A  bird  that  can  sing  and  won't  sing  must  be  made  to  sing." 
Indeed  !  Try  it.  One  person  can  put  a  bird  in  a  cage,  but 
twenty  cannot  make  him  sing.  Talmage  has  improved  the 
proverb  :  "If  a  man  can  sing  and  won't  sing  he  ought  to  be 
sent  to  Sing  Sing."  The  enforced  labor  of  convicts  there  re- 
minds us  how  we  may  make  the  proverb  really  true  and  serious  : 
the  man  who  can  work  and  won't  work  must  be  made  to  work. 

"  Take  the  bull  by  the  horns,"  says  a  foolish  proverb.  No 
man  ever  obeyed  it  twice.  A  better  proverb  would  be,  "  A 
mule  is  tamest  in  front,"  to  emphasize  the  importance  of  be- 
ginning everything  at  the  right  end. 

There  is  no  easy  road  to  learning,  but  all  its  roads  are  royal. 

The  proper  study  of  mankind  is  man  and  his  Maker. 

The  betrayed  woman  loves  neither  wisely  nor  well. 

I  care  much  what  a  man  thinks,  for  thoughts  are  the  rudders 
of  life.  Tell  me  what  a  man  thinks  and  I  will  tell  you  what 
his  life  will  be  in  the  long  run.  It  may  be  worse  than  his 
thoughts,  but  it  cannot  be  better. 

Enough  is  better  than  a  feast. 

True  charity  never  ends  at  home.  "If  ye  love  them  that 
love  you,  what  reward  have  ye  ?  Do  not  even  the  publicans 
so  ? 

A  bad  promise  is  worse  kept  than  broken,  but  better  not 
spoken. 

There  are  no  ill  winds  that  bring  good  to  no  one.  "  All 
things  work  together  for  good  to  them  that  love  God." 

Take  people  as  they  are,  but  not  without  an  effort  to  make 
them  what  they  should  be. 

It  never  rains,  but  God  pours  out  blessings  on  the  earth.  It 
never  rains,  but  God  reigns  and  rains.  Blessings  do  not  come 


62  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

alone  any  oftener  than  misfortunes,  and  both  are  blessed  as 
they  come  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  A  thing  of  goodness  is  a 
joy  forever.  The  best  attendant  of  valor  is  discretion.  When 
God  bids  us  speak,  speech  is  golden  and  silence  is  sin. 

"  An  honest  man,"  despite  Pope,  "  is  not  the  noblest  work 
of  God,"  but  rather  one  who  adds  to  honesty  Christlike  devo- 
tion to  the  good  of  men  and  the  glory  of  God.  Some  of  the 
meanest  men  that  breathe  are  strictly  honest  because  it  pays, 
or  because  the  law  compels.  Some  years  ago  a  drunkard  ap- 
plied to  a  Connecticut  deacon,  who  kept  a  grocery,  for  a  pint 
of  whiskey.  "  Can't  sell  it  to  you,"  said  the  deacon. 
"  Why  ?"  '*  Because  the  law  won't  let  me  sell  less  than  a 
quart."  The  half-intoxicated  customer  replied  promptly  and 
truly,  "  Deacon,  if  you  ain't  any  better  than  the  law  makes  you, 
you1  II  go  to  hell  sure."  An  unselfish,  Christlike  man  is  the 
noblest  work  of  God. 

"  Every  man  for  himself  really  means,  Every  man  against 
himself,  for  even  in  the  secular  life  of  this  world,  "  He  that 
saveth  his  life  shall  lose  it."  "There  is  that  withholdeth 
more  than  is  meet,  and  it  tendeth  to  poverty."  He  that  cheats 
another  cheats  himself  more  in  his  loss  of  custom  and  reputa- 
tion. Of  the  crowd  that  cry,  "  Every  man  for  himself,"  the 
devil  takes  the  foremost  as  well  as  the  hindmost — Dives  as  well 
as  Judas.  The  proverb  of  success  should  be,  Every  man  for 
the  good  of  all.  As  several  of  my  correspondents  have  said, 
no  one  can  attain  true  and  abiding  success  except  by  doing 
some  real  service  to  the  public.  There  is  no  profounder  watch- 
word for  even  secular  success  than  those  words  of  Christ, 
"  Whosoever  of  you  will  be  chiefest  shall  be  servant  of  all." 
It  is  the  public  servants  who  most  faithfully  and  skilfully  carry 
our  freights  and  work  our  grain  fields  and  solve  our  intellectual 
problems  that  win  our  gold  and  our  respect.  "  He  that  loseth 
his  life  shall  find  it."  "  There  is  that  scattereth  and  yet  in- 
creaseth. "  The  golden  rule,  quoted  by  more  of  my  corre- 
spondents than  any  other  motto,  much  as  it  is  disregarded  by 
many  who  handle  gold,  is  nevertheless  an  essential  rule  of  busV- 


BUSINESS   MAXIMS,  BAD    AND    GOOD.  63 

ness  success.  It  pays  better  than  a  short  yardstick  or  false 
weights. 

One  very  successful  young  man,  who  provides  the  outfit  for 
great  museums,  works  by  the  golden  rule  in  its  new  form, 
"Put  yourself  in  his  place."  He  sits  in  the  new  seats  pro- 
vided for  museum  visitors  to  make  sure  they  are  comfortable  ; 
he  tries  the  effect  of  the  various  colors  on  the  eye  that  he  may 
have  the  right  tint  on  the  borders  of  his  labels,  and  puts  on 
them  such  information  as  he  would  want  if  he  was  an  unedu- 
cated visitor.  It  is  certainly  a  golden  rule  for  all  kinds  of 
business,  "  Put  yourself  in  your  customer's  place."  The 
interests  of  self,  of  humanity,  and  of  God  are  all  thus  com- 
bined, as  the  earth  has  a  threefold  revolution  at  the  same  time — 
first,  on  its  axis  ;  second,  around  the  sun  ;  and  third,  with  the 
whole  solar  system  around  the  central  Pleiades.  Every  man  for 
God,  for  humanity,  for  himself,  and  God  bless  the  foremost. 

Away  with  the  devil's  false  proverbs  of  selfishness  and  sin, 
which  make  void  the  law  of  God  by  their  tradition,  as  the 
Jews'  trick  of  Corban  was  made  the  pretence  of  thankless  sons 
for  robbing  their  aged  parents  of  the  support  which  was  their 
due.  Such  a  son  would  call  his  property,  as  an  excuse  for 
withholding  help  from  his  parents,  Corban,  that  is,  conse- 
crated to  God,  although  he  still  kept  it  in  his  own  possession, 
consecrated  only  to  his  selfishness.  As  Christ  swept  away 
such  traditions,  which  were  contrary  to  the  Scriptures,  so  let  us 
sweep  out  of  our  shops  as  rubbish  the  false  proverbs  that 
abound. 


VII. 
THE  WATCHWORDS   OF  OUR  LEADERS. 

What  is  really  wanted  is,  to  light  np  the  spirit  that  is  within  a  boy. 
In  some  sense  and  in  some  degree,  in  some  effectual  degree,  there  is 
in  every  boy  the  material  of  good  work  in  the  world  ;  in  every  boy, 
not  only  in  those  who  are  brilliant,  not  only  in  those  who  are  quick, 
but  in  those  who  are  solid,  and  even  in  those  who  are  dull,  or  who 
seem  to  be  dull.  If  they  have  only  the  good  will,  the  dulness  will 
day  by  day  clear  away,  under  the  influence  of  the  good-will. — GLAD- 
STONE. 

WE  must  put  true  proverbs  in  the  place  of  bad  ones.  Nature 
abhors  a  vacuum.  The  devil  fills  vacant  lots  with  his  garbage. 
Right  watchwords  are  as  great  a  power  for  good  as  bad  ones 
are  for  evil. 

One  of  my  correspondents  declares  as  his  opinion  that  maxims 
and  watchwords,  as  such,  are  of  little  account,  and  are  seldom 
thought  of  by  boys  ;  the  examples  of  upright,  honorable  busi- 
ness men  and  the  precepts  of  the  Bible  being  more  potent.  I 
answer  that,  while  "  example"  is  "  more  potent"  than  any 
words,  yet  noble  maxims,  which  are  usually  outgrowths  from 
the  Bible,  if  not  quotations,  are  also  "  potent,"  as  the  biogra- 
phies of  great  men  and  the  replies  I  have  received  abundantly 
prove.  To  many  a  man  a  motto  has  become  the  very  star  by 
which  he  has  sailed  all  through  the  voyage  of  life,  as  a  terse 
expression  of  its  true  purpose. 

I  do  not  forget  that  there  is  often  "  smooth  talk  and  bad 
walk  ;"  that  "  Between  said  and  done  a  long  race  may  be 
run  ;"  but  the  walk  would  often  be  worse  but  for  the  talk.  A 
motto  helps  a  man  as  a  target  does  the  skill  of  a  marksman. 
It  gives  his  life  a  purpose  and  plan.  '  *  Have  a  mark  ;  aim  at 


-X        JUDGE    GEO*G.  REYNOLDS 

JUDGE  OF  THE    CITY    COURT   OT  BROOKLYN. 


LAW    AND    LITERATURE. 


THE    \VATCHWORDS    OF    OUR    LEADERS.  67 

it  ;  hit  it ;"  an  arrow  shot  at  a  venture  was  never  but  once 
known  to  hit  anything. 

Each  of  our  States  and  every  foreign  nation  holds  up  a  motto 
on  its  coat-of-arras  as  the  aim  of  its  people.  Such  ideals  of 
life  improve  the  real  life.  All  titled  families  in  foreign  lands 
have  such  mottoes  as  incitements  to  true  nobleness.  In  this 
country,  where  every  family  is  royal,  such  mottoes  would  be 
helpful  guide-boards  to  right  courses  of  life.  And  why  not 
have  a  motto  for  all  schools  as  well  as  colleges  ?  The  old  cus- 
tom of  putting  mottoes  on  clocks  and  watches  is  also  a  good 
one.  "Jfugit  hora  ora"  (The  hour  is  flying,  pray)  said 
the  dial  of  an  old  clock  in  Yorkshire,  to  all  who  looked  at  it 
for  the  time  of  day.  "/»  hoc  memento  pendet  ceternitas"  (On 
this  moment  hangs  eternity)  said  another  clock.  Every  time 
Dr.  Johnson  turned  to  his  watch  he  read  on  its  face  that  timely 
warning  against  sluggishness  and  sin,  "  EpKera*  vv%"  (The 
night  cometh).  At  the  Jewish  feast  of  Pentecost,  when  the 
young  people  are  received  into  membership  in  the  synagogue, 
they  are  each  given  a  confirmation  certificate,  inscribed  with  an 
appropriate  Scripture  motto,  which  they  are  to  cherish  and 
follow  through  life — a  good  custom  for  all  churches. 

Several  of  the  prominent  men  whose  mottoes  I  have  received 
ascribe  "  great  influence"  to  them.  One  of  the  most  respect- 
ed of  Brooklyn's  citizens  quotes,  as  powers  in  his  life,  two 
verses  of  Scripture  :  "  Seek  ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
His  righteousness,"  and  "  A  good  name  is  rather  to  be  chosen 
than  great  riches."  As  to  the  commercial  value  of  a  good 
name  I  might  quote  from  another  reply  the  words  of  a  father 
to  his  son,  "  My  boy,  I  had  rather  you  would  leave  your  em- 
ployer  when  of  age  without  a  dollar  in  your  pocket,  but  with 
his  recommendation,  than  leave  before  your  time  was  out,  with 
a  thousand  dollars  in  your  pocket  but  without  his  recommenda- 
tion." 

One  of  Brooklyn's  doctors  says  :  "  When  I  was  quite  a  lad  I 
heard  a  short  Sunday-school  speech  in  our  little  country  church, 
where  the  speaker  took  for  his  text,  '  Aim  high  ;  if  you  don't 


68  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

hit  the  mark  you  may  come  somewhere  near  it.'  The  speech 
from  that  text  has,  I  think,  had  a  strong  influence  upon  my 
whole  life." 

A  New  York  publisher  says  :  "  When  a  boy  of  nine  years 
of  age  my  Sunday-school  teacher  gave  me  a  book  entitled,  '  No 
Such  Word  as  Fail.'  I  have  felt  the  effect  of  it  ever  since." 

A  Western  ex-governor  ascribes  similar  power  to  the  prov- 
erbs of  Solomon  and  Franklin,  which  his  father  frequently 
quoted  to  his  children. 

A  clergyman  and  author  names  the  following  mottoes  as 
those  that  have  had  a  shaping  and  controlling  influence  on  his 
life  :  "  I  will  make  the  world  better  for  having  lived  in  it." 
"  By  something  attempted,  something  done,  I'll  earn  each 
night's  repose." 

"  Count  that  day  lost  whose  low  descending  sun 
Views  from  thy  hand  no  worthy  action  done." 

"  Whatsoever  thy  hand  findeth  to  do,  do  it  with  thy  might." 
As  a  guide  in  ministerial  studies,  he  has  often  quoted  the 
proverb,  "  Know  everything  of  something,  and  something  of 
everything. ' '  A  minister  needs  to  know  one  thing — the  Bible 
— thoroughly,  and  then  something  of  everything,  that  he  may 
illustrate  it  to  everybody.  But  a  motto  which  does  him  more 
constant  service  is  the  old  English  one,  "  Doe  ye  nexte  thynge." 
When  many  duties  press  for  attention,  that  motto,  like  a 
policeman  at  a  ticket  office,  makes  them  stand  in  line  and  wait 
their  turn  while  he  does  the  next  thing.  This  same  motto 
helps  John  Wanamaker  to  manage  the  largest  clothing  estab- 
lishment in  the  country  and  the  largest  Sunday-school  at  the 
same  time — a  spirited  and  well-mated  span. 

"  Though  work  may  be  hard  to  meet  when  it  charges  in  a 
squad,  it  is  easily  vanquished  if  you  can  bring  it  into  line." 
In  such  doing  the  motto  of  John  Wesley  is  a  good  one, 
'*  Always  in  haste,  but  never  in  a  hurry.  "  That  helped  him  to 
make  his  life  very  fruitful,  not  only  in  soul-saving  but  also  in 
money-getting  and  giving. 


THE    WATCHWORDS    OF    OUU    LEADERS.  69 

In  one  of  the  replies  to  my  inquiries  about  mottoes,  a  pros- 
porous  Brooklyn  manufacturer  tells  how  a  single  watchword 
made  him  wealthy,  besides  helping  him  in  his  character. 
When  a  young  man  he  started  for  Australia  in  a  sailing  vessel, 
intending  to  go  into  business  there  ;  but  he  became  very  weary 
of  the  slow  and  stormy  voyage  and  half  determined  to  leave  the 
ship  at  a  South  American  port  and  return  home.  He  asked 
advice  from  an  old  man,  who  was  one  of  his  fellow-passengers. 
The  counsel  he  got  was,  "  If  you  undertake  to  do  a  thing,  do 
it."  He  took  the  advice,  and  the  motto  also.  In  Australia  he 
soon  acquired  twenty-five  thousand  dollars,  which  he  brought 
back  to  this  country  and  greatly  increased  by  fidelity  to  the 
same  ever-present  watchword.  The  motto  has  also  helped  him 
as  a  Christian  in  holding  on  and  holding  out.  "  If  you  under- 
take  to  do  a  thing,  do  it." 

Mr.  Edmund  Driggs,  of  Brooklyn,  gives  in  his  reply  a  motto 
that  came  into  his  life  like  an  influence,  and  greatly  helped  him 
toward  success.  At  the  age  of  fifteen  he  left  home  to  engage 
with  an  older  brother  in  the  freighting  business  on  the  Hudson 
River.  The  first  duty  he  performed  on  board  the  vessel  was 
to  go  aloft  to  reef  the  pennant  halliards  through  the  truck  of 
the  topmast,  which  was  forty  feet  above  the  top  of  the  main- 
mast, without  any  rigging  attached  thereto.  When  the  sailing- 
master  had  arranged  the  halliards  over  his  shoulder,  with  a  run- 
ning bowline  under  his  right  arm,  he  ordered  him  aloft.  The 
new  sailor  looked  at  the  sailing-master  and  then  aloft  and  asked 
the  question,  "Did  anybody  ever  do  that?"  "Yes,"  you 
fool,"  was  the  answer.  "  Do  you  suppose  that  I  would  order 
you  to  do  a  thing  that  w\s  never  done  before  ?"  The  young 
sailor  replied,  "  If  anybody  ever  did  it,  I  can  do  it."  He  did 
it.  That  maxim  has  been  his  watchword  through  life.  Though 
he  is  now  over  seventy  years  of  age,  he  is  still  engaged  in  active 
business  life,  and  whatever  enterprise  he  undertakes  the  watch- 
word still  is,  "  If  anybody  ever  did  it,  I  can  do  it." 

A  well-known  preacher  shows  how  this  principle  works  in 
the  lowest  sphere  :  "  I  remember  very  well  when  a  horse  that 


70  SUCCESSFUL    MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

could  trot  down  to  2.40  was  thought  to  be  a  wonderful  ani- 
mal, and  wise  men  of  the  turf  wondered  if  they  could  ever  get 
it  lower  than  that  ;  and  I  easily  remember  when  it  went  down 
to  35.  As  soon  as  one  got  down  to  35,  other  men  said,  '  Well, 
I  can  trot  in  35.  What  one  horse  has  done,  some  other  horse 
can  do.'  Some  one  got  it  down  to  30,  and  then  there  was  a 
host  of  horses  that  could  go  down  to  30.  Then  the  example 
was  set  them,  and  they  got  it  down  to  25.  Soon  there  was  a 
whole  raft  of  horses  that  could  go  down  to  25,  and  when  it 
came  down  to  20  there  was  a  great  drove  that  followed  thorn 
down  there.  When  they  got  down  from  20  to  19,  18,  17, 
they  said,  *  WTe  have  got  to  the  bottom  now.'  And  yet  they 
have  got  down  to  13  and  12,  and  I  do  not  know  how  much 
further  they  will  go — only  this  :  we  know  that  the  moment  the 
example  is  set,  and  men  say,  *  It  lies  in  bone  and  muscle  and 
nerve  to  do  that,'  there  will  be  some  who  will  do  it."  So  in 
the  highest  sphere,  lives  of  true  men  all  remind  us  that  we  can 
make  our  lives,  if  not  sublime,  at  least  greatly  useful,  by  fidelity 
and  perseverance.  "  WThat  man  has  done,  man  can  do  !" 

Let  me  now  give,  with  nothing  more  than  passing  comment, 
many  others  of  the  mottoes  which  I  have  just  gathered.  One 
who  has  been  a  governor  and  general  and  is  now  a  college 
president,  has  the  motto,  "  Fidelity  to  every  trust."  Another 
general  of  our  late  war,  now  a  senator,  is  true  to  these  two 
watchwords:  "All  men  are  equal  if  upright  and  honest." 
"  Stick  to  your  friends  in  adversity  as  well  as  prosperity." 

Among  the  mottoes  of  Alexander  H.  Stephens  were  these  : 
"  Time  and  tide  wait  for  no  man."  "  Take  time  by  the  fore- 
lock." (A  new  version  of  this  proverb  is,  "  The  time  to  take 
pancakes  is  when  they  are  passing.") 

"  Be  just  and  fear  not"  is  the  motto  of  another.  He  says 
of  this  motto  : 

u  I  remember  my  first  employer  acted  wrongly  in  some  of  his 
business  transactions.  This  motto  was  on  a  show-card  he  was 
looking  at.  I  pointed  to  it  and  said,  '  That's  true.  '  He 
looked  with  amazement,  and  ordered  the  printer  to  erase  it. 


THE   WATCHWORDS   OF   OUR   LEADERS.  71 

In  six  months  lie  was  compelled  to  give  all  he  possessed  to  con- 
done his  offence.  If  he  had  carried  the  motto  out  he  would 
this  day  have  been  opulent  and  happy." 

Neal  Dow's  motto  is,  "JRes  non  verba ;"  that  is,  Deeds  not 
words.  But  he  is  good  at  both.  He  has  also  two  other  mot- 
toes :  "  Always  be  on  the  side  of  right,  always  against  the 
wrong."  "  No  man  has  a  right  to  do  anything  that  if  the 
world  should  follow  his  example  would  produce  more  harm 
than  good."  A  distinguished  professor  flies  the  motto,  "  Wis- 
dom is  the  principal  thing." 

An  editor  of  one  of  the  leading  Chicago  papers  has  the 
motto,  "  Industrious  perseverance  and  integrity  insure  suc- 
cess." Another  editor's  motto  is,  "  Honest  industry  and  hard 
work  wiil  win."  Those  who  "dash  off"  articles  for  the 
papers  would  do  well  to  ponder  these  editorial  mottoes  and 
save  their  articles  from  being  "  dashed  off  "  into  the  waste- 
basket.  Another  editor  takes  two  mottoes  from  Horace.  One 
is,  "  Nocturna  versate,  versate  diurna" — that  is,  Turn  your 
verses  over  by  day,  turn  them  over  by  night.  The  other  is, 
"  Nulla  dies  sine  linea" — No  day  without  a  line. 

The  motto  of  one  of  our  Brooklyn  doctors  is,  "  Be  cautious, 
but  thorough,"  which  reminds  us  of  the  motto  of  the  great 
Rothschild,  "Be  cautious,  but  bold."  Several  business  men 
have  the  following  mottoes  :  "  Do  your  best  every  time,  even 
in  small  matters."  "Do  everything  well."  -"Whatever  is 
worth  doing  at  all  is  worth  doing  well."  But  a  thoughtful 
professor  puts  beside  such  mottoes  of  well-doing  one  that  he 
believes  and  defends,  which  presents  the  other  half  of  the  same 
truth,  "Never  do  anything  too  well."  Arctic  exploration  is  a 
case  in  point.  It  is  too  costly  a  form  of  suicide.  The  game- 
is  not  worth  the  candle.  Many  books  are  only  worth  a  rapid 
reading.*  We  are  not  to  put  as  much  pains  into  making  a  box 


*  Mr.  Gladstone  is  said  to  have  one  faculty  in  a  supernatural  de- 
gree— that  of  mastering  the  contents  of  the  book  by  glancing  through 
its  pages.  A  friend  says  of  him  that  he  can  master  any  average  book 


72  SUCCESSFUL  MEK    OF  TO-DAY. 

as  into  the  statue  which  it  is  to  contain.  Many  men  waste 
their  lives  in  doing  trifles  too  well.  It  is  not  worth  while  to 
butter  your  cows'  hay  or  throw  pearls  to  swine  with  their  corn. 
"  What  can  be  done  with  little  need  not  be  done  with  much." 
Then  that  kindred  motto  of  business  men,  "  If  you  want  to 
have  a  thing  well  done,  do  it  yourself,"  is  to  be  limited  by 
that  other  watchword,  "It  is  better  to  set  ten  men  to  work 
than  to  do  ten  men's  work."  Among  the  various  calls  upon 

in  a  quarter  of  an  hour.  He  has  a  sort  of  instinct  which  leads  him 
straight  to  its  salient  points,  and  after  a  quarter  of  an  hour's  study 
he  will  be  able  to  tell  more  about  it,  and  to  argue  more  conclusively 
on  its  thesis,  than  the  average  reader  who  begins  "frith  the  preface 
and  reads  through  to  the  last  page.  Lord  Macaulay  was  a  very  rapid 
reader,  and  he  had  a  very  retentive  memory.  Joseph  Cook  draws  the 
honey  out  of  a  book  as  a  bee  does  out  of  a  flower.  Sometimes  he 
may  miss  the  real  meaning  ;  but  there  are  few  men  who  are  his  equal 
in  either  gathering  from  literature  or  preserving  and  using  what  they 
have  gathered.  I  will  not  go  so  far  as  Rufus  Choate,  who  said  that 
he  never  read  a  book  through,  but  there  are  comparatively  few  books 
that  require  to  be  read  through  by  a  proficient  reader.  There  are 
pages  and  even  chapters  that  he  may  skip.  There  are  ideas  elabo- 
rated that  he  can  get  from  the  bare  statement  of  them,  others  illus- 
trated that  he  can  understand  without  delaying  for  the  illustration, 
others  that  he  is  familiar  with  and  does  not  need  to  get  at  all.  It  is 
possible  to  acquire  a  power  to  look  through  a  book,  discern  by  a  sort 
of  instinct,  developed  only  by  practice,  what  is  valuable  in  it  and 
what  not  for  one's  own  purpose,  seize  on  that,  and  leave  the  rest 
alone.  The  first  condition  of  rapid  reading  is  careful  reading.  Bead 
only  what  is  worth  careful  reading.  Recall,  after  you  rise  from  your 
book  or  paper,  what  you  have  read.  Attempt  to  give  account  of  it, 
to  yourself  or  to  others.  Open  a  journal,  and  habituate  yourself  to 
write  down  iii  it,  from  memory,  an  analysis  of  the  last  book,  or  the 
thoughts  it  suggested,  or  the  remarkable  facts  which  it  contained. 
To  attempt  to  read  rapidly,  before  you  have  read  slowly  and  labori- 
ously, results  in  reading  without  thinking,  which  is  no  reading  at 
all.  If  you  keep  this  habit  up,  if  you  read  thoroughly— that  is,  with 
thought,  and  deny  yourself  all  literature  that  is  not  worth  thoughtful 
reading — when  you  have  exercised  yourself  in  this  way  for  fifteen  or 
twenty  years  you  will  gradually  find  that  practice  makes  perfect. — 
ABBOTT,  D.D. 


THE   WATCHWORDS   OF   OUR   LEADERS.  73 

our  time  we  are  not  to  do  things  of  even  secondary  importance 
to  the  exclusion  of  more  important  ones.  "  The  better  is  a 
great  enemy  of  the  best. "  "  All  that  time  is  lost  which  might 
be  better  employed."  Between  good,  better,  and  best,  always 
choose  the  best. 

4 '  Look  at  those  two  ragged  and  vicious>agrants  that  Murillo 
has  gathered  out  of  the  street.  You  smile  at  first,  because 
they  are  eating  so  naturally,  and  theip  roguery  is  so  complete. 
But  is  there  anything  else  than  roguery  there,  or  was  it  well 
for  the  painter  to  give  his  time  to  the  painting  of  those  repul- 
sive ancl  wicked  children  ?"  * 

Other  mottoes  are  as  follows:  "  One  thing  at  a  time." 
'  *  Business  before  pleasure. "  *  *  Work,  economize,  persevere. ' ' 
11  A  purpose  overfixed,  and  then  victory  or  death."  "  Never 
be  idle."  "  While  I  live  I'll  crow."  "  Never  give  up  one 
job  until  you  get  another." 

The  man  who  flies  that  last  motto  was  once  a  school-house 
sexton.  When  appointed  a  teacher  he  kept  the  old  job  until 
sure  of  success  in  the  new  one,  and  so  on  until  he  is  now  su- 
perintendent of  schools  in  one  of  our  largest  cities. 

Yet  other  mottoes  of  business  men  are  the  following  : 
"  Never  make  a  promise  that  you  cannot  perform."  "  Incur 
no  responsibility  which  you  cannot  meet  without  distress." 
"  Never  fail  to  keep  a  promise."  "  Meet  every  engagement 
to  the  minute."  "  When  you  say  you  will  do  a  thing,  do  it" 
(a  motto  implying  perseverance  as  well  as  fidelity).  "  Always 
pay  a  hundred  cents  on  the  dollar."  "  Make  every  article 
reliable."  "Every  tub  must  stand  on  its  own  bottom." 
"Paddle  your  own  canoe."  "Every  man's  life  a  plan  of 
God."  "Buy  nothing  unnecessary,  however  cheap."  (The 
cheapest  things  are  the  costliest,  especially  when  bought  only 
because  of  their  cheapness).  "  Spend  less  than  you  earn  every 
year."  "Save  a  portion  of  every  dollar  earned."  "Be 
honest,  whether  the  ducats  come  or  go."  "  A  man  gets  only 
what  he  earns."  "  Eternal  vigilance  is  the  price  of  success." 
.  *  Buskin. 


74  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF  TO-DAY.      « 

"  Faithful  in  least,  faithful  also  in  much."  "Make  your 
employer's  interests  your  own."  "  Make  yourself  indispen- 
sable." "  Be  sure  you  are  right,  then  go  ahead."  (Anew 
version  of  that  proverb  is,  "  Be  sure  you  have  a  loaf  and  not  a 
stone  before  you  bite.") 

"  Pay  as  you  go."  (John  Randolph  called  that  the  philoso- 
pher's stone).  "  Never  spend  a  dollar  until  you  have  it." 
' '  Stretch  yourself  according  to  your  coverlet. ' '  The  sign- 
board of  the  road  to  wealth  is 


SPEND  LESS  THAN  You  EAKN. 


These  mottoes  are  fairly  modified  by  the  rule  of  a  Syracuse 
man  :  "  Always  have  a  debt  on  your  house  or  some  other  mort- 
gaged property  as  an  incentive  to  saving."  Henry  Ward 
Beecher  says,  "  If  a  young  man  will  only  get  in  debt  for  some 
land  and  then  get  married,  these  two  things  will  keep  him. 
straight  or  nothing  will." 

Another  gives  "  Remember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it 
holy"  as  a  business  motto.  It  is  a  good  one,  for  the  success- 
ful men  of  our  land  are  mostly  those  who  have  strictly  and  reg- 
ularly rested  in  body  and  mind,  as  Gladstone  does,  on  the 
Lord's  day.  A  prominent  editor  says,  "  The  chief  rule  of  my 
life  for  many  years  has  been  to  do  what  God  gives  me  to  do, 
whether  I  like  it  or  not." 

Yet  other  business  mottoes  are  :  "  Be  a  whole  man." 
"  Not  slothful  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord." 
"  Commit  thy  way  unto  the  Lord,  and  he  shall  direct  thy 
paths."  "  Trust  in  the  Lord,  and  do  good."  "  "Do  justly, 
love  mercy,  and  walk  humbly  with  thy  God." 

The  most  powerful,  perhaps,  of  all  modern  watchwords  are 
the  Wardsworth  mottoes.  A  noble  mechanic  of  that  name, 


THE   WATCHWORDS    OF   OUR   LEADERS.  75 

filled  with  a  Christian  enthusiasm  for  doing  good  to  everybody 
by  word  and  deed,  adopted  these  mottoes  : 

"  Look  up  and  not  down. 
Look  forward  and  not  backward. 
Look  out  and  not  in,  and  lend  a  hand." 

At  his  funeral,  ten  persons  whom  he  had  helped  to  nobler 
lives  by  what  he  was  and  by  what  he  had  said  and  done, 
agreed  that  they  would  adopt  his  mottoes  and  seek  to  repeat 
his  spirit  and  work.  Edward  Everett  Hale  told  the  story,  with 
the  spice  of  fiction  added,  in  "  Ten  Times  One."  Thousands 
of  readers  of  that  book  have  adopted  the  mottoes  for  them- 
selves, and  made  them  also  the  flag  of  temperance  societies  and 
charitable  clubs,  until  the  Wardsworth.  mottoes  are  now  the 
banner  of  more  than  ten  times  ten  thousand.  Multitudes  have 
been  led  by  these  watchwords  to."  look  up"  to  God,  and  "  not 
down"  to  discouragements.  Such  looking  up  is  faith.  They 
have  been  led  to  "  look  forward  "  with  earnest  purpose,  and 
"not  backward"  in  vain  regrets.  Such  looking  forward  is 
Hope.  They  have  been  led,  instead  of  looking  "in"  at  self, 
their  own  aches,  their  own  interests,  their  own  imperfections, 
to  "  look  out"  in  earnest  search  for  opportunities  to  do  good, 
and  "  lend  a  hand  "  to  comfort  the  sorrowing,  help  the  needy, 
and  lift  up  the  sinful.  That  is  Charity.  Let  us  all,  in  heart  at 
least,  unite  with  these  countless  Look  Up  Legions  under  the 
banner  of  the  Wardsworth  mottoes. 


VIII. 
WHAT  CHURCHES  MAY  LEARN  FROM  COMMERCE. 


I  know  the  impression  is  that  we  do  not  need  to  discuss  the  ques- 
tion of  prohibition,  and  other  moral  questions,  so  much  as  the  ques- 
tion of  the  salvation  of  men,  or  the  question  of  the  divine  govern- 
ment ;  but  it  seems  to  me  that  for  a  hundred  years  to  come  the 
churches  could  afford  to  devote  themselves  to  the  work  of  radicating 
in  men  the  necessity  of  speaking  the  truth,  the  necessity  of  strict 
honesty,  the  necessity  of  fidelity  to  trusts.  The  art  of  learning  how 
to  live  with  your  fellow-men  is  the  art  of  learning  how  to  live  with 
God  and  angels  ;  but  that  art  has  been  largely  left  out  in  the  teaching 
of  our  churches  for  years  and  years. — HENBY  WAKD  BEECHEK. 

LET  us  exchange  the  devil's  watchword,  "  Business  is  busi- 
ness," the  frequent  excuse  for  Christian  conduct,  for  a  new 
and  true  watchword,  Religion  in  business,  and  a  business  of 
religion. 

Religion  certainly  needs  business  as  a  prudent  husband — 
that  is,  church  work  should  be  more  business-like.  Christ  bado 
the  Church  learn  from  the  methods  of  business  men  when  he 
said,  "  The  children  of  this  world  are  wiser  than  the  children 
of  light."  Jesus  called  Christian  work  "My  Father's  busi- 
ness. ' ' 

I  suppose  he  had  plenty  of  business  to  do  when  he  was 
making  the  worlds  up  yonder,  "  For  by  him  were  all  things 
made  that  were  made  ;"  yet  in  the  midst  of  the  sublime 
counsels  of  eternity,  he  looked  down  upon  this  world  falling 
to  ruin.  His  heart  was  full  of  love,  and  he  made  it  his  busi- 
ness to  come  into  the  cradle  at  Bethlehem,  to  walk  along  the 
lanes  of  Palestine,  scattering  his  gifts  of  mercy  broadcast  ;  to 


WHAT   CHUBCHES   MAY   LEAKtf    FEOM    COMMERCE.       77 

go  to  dark  Gethsemane  and  wrestle  there  for  humanity  until 
the  blood-drops  stood  on  his  brow  ;  to  hang  on  the  cross  while 
the  heavens  grew  dark  at  the  awful  wickedness,  until  he.  could 
speak  of  a  "  finished  "  business. 

The  first  published  words  of  Jesus  were,  4*  I  must  be  about 
my  Father's  business."  His  last  words  on  the  cross  were,  "It 
is  finished."  During  the  twenty-one  years  that  intervened 
between  those  sentences,  Jesus  made  religion  the  chief  busi- 
ness of  his  life.  But  let  it  not  be  forgotten  that  during  eigh- 
teen of  those  years  he  served  God  as  a  layman  and  a  carpenter, 
and  during  only  three  as  a  preacher. 

As  we  hear  Jesus  at  twelve  saying  tenderly  to  his  mother, 
who  was  surprised  to  find  him  in  the  temple  and  busy  with  re- 
ligious matters,  "  Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be  about  my  Father's 
business  ?"  it  should  remind  the  boys  and  girls  and  their 
parents  that  twelve  years  of  age  is  not  too  early  for  one  to  be 
about  the  great  business  of  serving  God  and  saving  souls.  Many 
men  gb  into  secular  business  at  twelve  years  of  age,  but  how 
many  parents,  like  Mary,  would  be  surprised  to  find  their  chil- 
dren interested  in  the  "  Father's  business"  so  early  in  life  ? 

As  we  see  Jesus,  the  young  carpenter,  sawing  boards  and 
doing  good,  "  not  slothful  in  business,  fervent  in  spirit,  serv- 
ing the  Lord,"  we  are  reminded  that  every  other  man  also  has 
two  departments  of  business  to  carry  on  at  the  same  time,  two 
kinds  of  business  that  do  not  interfere  with  each  other.  While 
a  man  is  diligent  in  business,  serving  customers  or  employers, 
he  may  at  the  same  time  be  fervent  in  spirit,  serving  the  Lord 
by  showing  forth  honesty,  generosity,  and  Christ-likeness. 

To  do  religious  work  on  Sunday,  as  do  many  of  the  business 
men  of  our  land,  is  a  better  rest  than  idleness,  as  it  more  com- 
pletely separates  the  mind  from  thoughts  of  business,  and  rests 
it  by  a  thorough  change  of  theme.  As  farmers  rest  soils  by 
change  of  crops,  so  minds  are  rested  by  change  of  work.* 

*  "  One  of  our  •writers  has  called  attention  to  the  fact  that  bankers 
have  made  for  themselves  quite  a  place  in  literature.  Here  is  our 


78 


SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 


To  every  one  God  has  intrusted  two  branches  of  business. 
The  two  signs  over  them  are  : 


"  Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in 
his  business  ?  He  shall  stand 
before  kings :  he  shall  not  stand 
before  mean  men." 


"  Wist  ye  not  that  I  must  be 
about  my  Fattier*  a   business?" 


The  latter  is  the  great  wholesale  department  of  every  man's 
life,  and  our  earthly  business,  however  large,  is  but  a  retail 
store  beside  it.  That  is  the  meaning  of  that  command,  "Seek 
ye  first  the  kingdom  of  God. ' '  Over  this  wholesale  depart- 
ment, our  religious  work,  the  proprietor  of  the  great  orphanage 
in  Bristol,  England,  puts  this  sign,  in  one  of  the  chapter  head- 
ings of  his  book  :  "The  Lord's  dealings  with  George  Muller." 
In  the  early  days  of  San  Francisco,  Rev.  William  Taylor,  the 


own  Stedman,  who  as  poet  and  critic  comes  next  to  Lowell.  Richard 
H.  Dana,  Sr.,  was  the  poet-banker  of  Boston,  as  Rogers  was  the  poet- 
banker  of  England.  Grote  was  a  banker-historian,  and  certainly  ranks 
among  the  best  historians  of  the  modern  world.  And  Sir  John  Lub- 
bock  is  the  banker-naturalist.  His  remarkably  interesting  volume  on 
'  Ants,  Bees,  and  Wasps  '  is  one  of  the  most  fascinating  of  scientific 
books,  yet  he  is  one  of  the  successful  bankers  of  London  and  an  active 
member  of  Parliament.  He  was  a  member  of  the  International  Coin- 
age Committee  appointed  by  government,  and  he  is  the  author  of  a 
variety  of  papers  in  financial  literature.  He  has  made  two  landmarks 
in  the  history  of  banking  which  will  always  be  associated  with  his 
name.  One  of  these  is  the  bank  holiday  ;  the  other  is  the  institution 
of  the  clearing-house  of  country  banks,  by  which  the  benefits  long 
known  in  the  city  of  London  were  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  country. 
He  is  president  of  the  Institute  of  Bankers,  with  its  two  thousand  mem- 
bers, and  holds  the  position  of  honorary  secretary  of  the  London  As- 
sociation of  Bankers.  Yet  this  banker  and  Member  of  Parliament 
has  found  time  to  make  a  study  of  the  habits  of  bees  and  ants  and 
wasps,  extending  over  several  years  of  time,  and  so  careful  and  minute 
that  its  results  are  an  invaluable  contribution  to  natural  history." 


WHAT   CHURCHES    MAY    LEAR^    FROM    COMMERCE.       79 

famous  missionary,   who  had  gone  there  for  Christian  work, 
pat  up  over  the  door  of  his  chapel  the  sign  : 


BUSINESS  TBANSACTED  HEBE  FOB  ETEBNITY. 


During  Mr.  Moody 's  meetings  in  London  a  certain  business 
man  was  converted,  and  his  brother  was  restored  from  back- 
sliding. They  had  another  brother  in  the  south  of  Ireland  who 
was  not  a  Christian,  and  they  telegraphed  him,  "  Come  at 
once,  very  important  business."  He  came  to  London,  and  they 
took  him  into  their  private  office,  and  with  streaming  eyes  told 
him  of  their  desire  for  his  conversion.  They  brought  him  to 
the  meeting  that  evening,  and  into  the  inquiry-room, and  he  be- 
came a  Christian.  That  despatch  was  truthful,  "  Very  impor- 
tant business."  "If  you  have  done  business  with  the  great 
firm  for  yourself,  become  a  commercial  to  bring  others  into 
relation  with  it." 

It  is  as  if  a  man  had  a  large  wholesale  warehouse  where  he 
made  thousands  of  dollars  a  day,  and  also  a  temporary  toy  shop 
for  a  holiday  season  to  gather  in  a  few  pennies  and  dimes. 
Would  that  man  leave  his  wholesale  warehouse  wholly  with 
his  clerks  and  spend  all  his  time  at  the  little  toy  shop  ? 

In  the  light  of  that  question,  look  at  the  two  branches  of 
business  which  are  intrusted  to  every  man  and  woman.  One 
has  to  do  with  the  body,  "  what  it  shall  eat,  and  what  it  shall 
drink,  and  wherewithal  it  shall  be  clothed,"  until  some  acci- 
dent or  disease  shall  lay  it  away  in  the  grave.  The  other 
branch  of  our  business  has  to  do  with  the  soul,  that  shall  live 
as  long  as  God  himself — how  it  shall  be  clothed  to  appear  before 
the  Judge  of  all,  and  how-  its  deep  thirstings  and  longings  shall 
be  satisfied.  One  of  these  departments  of  business  has  to  do 
with  time,  which  may  mean  to  us  an  hour,  a  day,  a  week.  At 


80  SUCCESSFUL   KEN   OS   TO-DA.Y. 

most  it  can  be  but  a  few  years  before  to  each  of  us  "  time 
shall  be  no  longer,''  The  other  branch  of  our  business  has  to 
do  with  eternity.  One  of  these  departments  of  business  deals 
with  life,  which  our  experience  as  well  as  the  Bible  shows  us  is 
but  "a  step,"  "a  vapor,"  "a  passing  cloud,"  "  a  fading 
flower,"  "  a  handbreadth, "  compared  to  the  whole  life  of  the 
immortal  soul.  The  other  branch  of  every  man's  business  has 
to  do  with  immortality,  beside  which  a  thousand  ages  in  their 
flight  are  only  as  a  singje  day  ;  beside  which  the  added  lives 
of  us  all — 20-j-30-|-40-{-60-}-10-|-'70,  etc. — would  be  only  as 
one  tick  of  the  clock  in  the  passage  of  a  century.  Enoch,  who 
was  taken  to  God  in  the  first  years  of  the  world  and  is  now  six 
thousand  years  old,  has  only  entered  the  infancy  of  his  im- 
mortality. Put  this  proportion  on  your  slates  : 

Time  :  Eternity  :  :  Life  :  Immortality  :  :  our  Earthly 
Business  :  the  Father's  Business. 

In  earthly  business  we  are  * '  hired  servants  or  partners  with 
men ;  in  our  heavenly  business  we  are  partners  with  GOD, 
"  co-workers"  and  "  co- witnesses"  with  him.  It  is  the  firm 
of  "God  and  sons"  that  is  to  save  the  world.  How  infinite 
the  honor  and  gladness  and  responsibility  of  such  a  partner- 
ship !  How  great  the  guilt  of  neglecting  our  assigned  part  in 
the  work  !  God's  part  is  to  convict  and  convert  the  soul,  as 
he  did  Saul  at  the  gate  of  Damascus  ;  our  part  is  to  lead  such 
converts  into  the  light  by  our  words  and  prayers,  as  did  the 
good  Ananias.  Such  winning  of  souls  as  partners  with  God 
is  a  more  important  department  of  our  work  than  winning 
gold  or  fame. 

A  profane  sea-captain  came  to  a  mission  station  on  the 
Pacific,  and  the  missionary  talked  with  him  upon  religious  sub- 
jects. The  captain  said,  "  I  came  away  from  Nantucket  after 
whales  ;  I  have  sailed  round  Cape  Horn  for  whales  ;  I  am  now 
up  in  the  Northern  Pacific  Ocean  after  whales.  I  think  of 
nothing  but  whales.  I  fear  your  labor  would  be  entirely  lost 
upon  me,  and  I  ought  to  be  honest  for  with  you.  I  care  for 
nothing  by  day  but  whales,  and  I  dream  of  them  at  night.  If 


WHAT   CHURCHES   MAY   LEARN   FROM    COMMERCE.      81 

you  should  open  my  heart  I  think  you  would  find  the  shape  of 
a  sperm-whale  there. ' ' 

Which  is  dearest  to  you,  your  earthly  business  or  your 
heavenly  mansion  ? 

The  great  evangelist,  Finney,  was  a  lawyer  prior  to  his  con- 
version. He  was  converted  and  called  to  the  ministry  on  the 
same  day.  One  of  the  deacons  of  the  place  came  to  his  office 
about  a  suit  he  desired  carried  to  the  courts.  Finney's  startling 
reply  was,  "  Deacon,  I  have  a  retainer  from  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  to  plead  his  cause,  and  so  I  cannot  plead  yours."  In 
every  earthly  business  God's  claims  upon  us  should  take  the 
precedence. 

True  religion  means  business.  It  is  not  a  mere  sentiment  or 
creed,  but  working  the  works  of  Him  that  sent  us  while  it  is 
day.  We  are  not  only  to  conduct  our  earthly  business  on 
Christian  principles,  but  also  to  practise  religion  on  business 
principles.  The  church,  like  Brooklyn  under  the  best  of 
mayors,  ought  to  be  managed  as  a  great  business  corporation, 
in  which  men  are  junior  partners  with  God. 

Christians  need  to  be  more  business-like,  for  one  thing,  in 
money  matters.  It  would  seem  as  if  many  a  church  member 
must  have  held  his  pocketbook  above  water  when  he  was  im- 
mersed, as  the  half-converted  savage  did  his  right  hand  because 
he  wished  to  keep  it  unbaptized  to  execute  revenge.  The  only 
genuine  article  is  a  purse-and-all  consecration.  "  I  suppose  I 
might  as  well  destroy  this,"  said  a  tailor  disconsolately,  taking 
up  an  old  bill  long  due  him  from  one  of  the  deacons  of  the 
church  to  which  he  belonged.  "Not  a  bit  of  it,"  said  his 
wife  ;  "  give  it  to  me."  The  next  Sunday  morning,  when  the 
plate  was  passed  for  subscriptions  to  pay  off  the  floating  debt, 
she  dropped  in  the  bill,  and  before  the  middle  of  the  week  it 
was  paid.  God  does  not  forgive  our  debts  of  that  sort.  A  true 
Christian  will  pay  as  well  as  pray.  A  man  can't  be  a  saint  in 
his  heart  and  a  cheat  jn  his  pocket  at  the  same  time,  until  ex- 
press trains  going  swiftly  in  opposite  directions  can  safely  pass 
on  the  same  track.  Fie  on  the  religion  of  the  men  who  pay 


4 

82  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

political  subscriptions  and  neglect  religious  ones  ;  who  pay 
promptly  for  the  pleasure  carriage  and  not  at  all  for  their  pews  ; 
who  put  God's  bills  at  the  bottom,  to  be  paid  last  or  not  at  all. 

In  going  through  the  woman's  department  of  our  peniten- 
tiary I  saw  rosaries  in  most  of  the  cells.  So  the  gallows  is 
usually  adorned  with  a  crucifix.  Why  does  one  church  furnish 
most  of  the  criminals  ?  Because  its  religion  does  not  mean 
business  ;  because  sacraments  are  put  in  the  place  of  honesty. 
Romish  pilgrims  to  sacred  shrines  in  Palestine  show  their  thrift 
by  acting  as  traders  at  the  same  time.  They  combine  business 
with  religion.  Would  that  they  might  be  persuaded  to  com- 
bine religion  with  business  and  not  prey  with  an  e  and  an  a  on 
the  same  journey. 

But  Protestants  do  not  allow  Romanists  to  monopolize  this 
habit  of  giving  God  the  lips  and  keeping  the  pocket  for  them- 
selves or  for  the  devil. 

Christians  also  need  to  be  more  business-like  in  matters  of 
church  business.  Why  is  it  that  in  many  communities  the 
churches  are  the  only  establishments  that  do  not  send  collectors 
after  unpaid  bills  ?  Did  you  ever  hear  of  a  church  with  an 
"  outside  credit  man"  who  lost  only  one  twentieth  of  one  per 
cent  a  year  on  its  bills,  as  was  the  case  a  year  or  two  since  in 
the  second  largest  dry  goods  establishment  in  our  land  ?  Why 
is  it  that  church  yards  are  kept  so  much  less  tidy  than  private 
ones  ?  Why  is  it  harder  to  get  a  quorum  of  church  officers 
than  of  bank  directors  ?  Certainly  no  Christian  would  admit 
that  God's  pay  is  less  valuable  than  man's. 

The  Church  needs  to  be  more  business-like,  not  only  in  han- 
dling money,  but  also  in  winning  men  to  God.  A  preacher  has 
"  great  bargains  to  offer" — "  mansions"  and  "  robes"  and 
"  jewels."  Why  should  he  not  be  as  earnest  in  seeking  cus- 
tomers as  if  his  pulpit  were  a  counter  or  an  auction-block  ? 
"  Men  ride  swift  steeds  when  they  hunt  for  game,  and  snails 
when  they  are  on  the  road  to  heaven."  "  They  are  wise  to  do 
evil,  but  to  do  good  they  have  no  knowledge."  One  of  the 
most  unbusiness-like  things  that  is  found  in  churches  is  the  pro- 


WHAT   CHURCHES   MAT   LEARX   FROM   COMMERCE.      83 

judice  against  revivals,  by  which  four  sevenths  of  the  ministers 
and  superintendents  of  America,  as  I  have  ascertained  by  printed 
inquiries,  were  brought  into  a  Christian  life.  Joseph  Cook  found 
a  similar  proportion  of  his  Christian  audience  were  revival  con* 
verts.  Strange  that  the  oak  should  have  a  prejudice  against  the 
sun  and  rain,  to  which  it  is  chiefly  indebted  for  its  growth  ! 

Men  open  summer  beer-gardens  to  make  the  front  door  of 
hell  attractive.  Why  should  not  Christians  open  a  "  gospel 
garden,"  such  as  Rev.  Dr.  Stephen  H.  Tyng,  Jr.,  carried  on 
in  New  York  a  few  years  ago  ?  It  consisted  of  an  apartment 
fitted  up  with  a  fountain,  floral  baskets,  urns  of  plants,  and 
whatever  would  give  it  an  inviting  appearance.  To  the  ceiling 
were  attached  long  linen  fans,  which  were  kept  all  the  time  in 
motion  to  supply  a  cool  and  refreshing  atmosphere.  We  are 
urged  to  something  of  this  sort  by  the  fact,  stated  in  the 
Brooklyn  Police  Report  for  1881,  that  more  arrests  are  made 
in  the  summer  than  in  any  time  in  the  year — that  is,  the  devil 
has  his  revival  while  the  churches  take  their  vacations.  Open- 
air  preaching,  such  as  is  common  in  English  parks  and  streets, 
and  tent  meetings  and  gospel  gardens,  are  needed  to  lessen 
summer  arrests  and  increase  summer  conversions. 

"  How  can  I  get  children  and  young  people  to  come  to 
Sunday-school  ?"  was  a  question  asked  at  a  Sunday-school  con- 
vention. At  once  the  answer  came,  "  Count  every  Sunday  an 
important  election  day,  the  Sunday-school  room  the  voting 
place,  and  every  boy  and  girl  a  voter. "  If  one  tenth  as  much 
effort  was  put  forth  by  Sunday-school  teachers  and  officers,  and 
professed  Christians  generally,  to  win  outside  children  and 
youth  to  the  Sunday-school  as  is  made  by  politicians  to  win 
voters  to  the  polls,  there  would  be  such  an  ingathering  of  new 
scholars  as  has  never  been  dreamed  of. 

A  business  man  wants  to  know  why  gospel  cars  should  not 
be  attached  to  a  passenger  train  as  well  as  smoking  cars.  A 
conductor  on  the  Old  Colony  Railroad  answers  that  the  sugges- 
tion is  a  perfectly  practical  one.  He  says  :  "  There  are  hun- 
dreds of  Christian  men  who  delight  in  the  worship  of  God  who 


84  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

spend  from  six  to  twelve  hours  per  week  on  the  railroad  be- 
tween home  and  business.  Now,  why  not  utilize  this  time  by 
religious  exercises  ?  What  a  fitting  beginning  and  end  for  the 
business  of  the  day  !  Instead  of  card-tables,  have  an  organ  or 
piano  ;  let  the  seats  be  arranged  facing  the  centre  of  the  car. 
Instead  of  spittoons,  have  a  carpet  ;  instead  of  cards,  have  Bibles 
and  gospel  song-books.  I  venture,  after  twenty  years  of  rail- 
road experience,  that  the  thing  is  practicable  !"  Something  a  lit- 
tle like  this  was  done  by  the  Plainfield  Railroad  Normal  Class,  a 
company  of  half  a  dozen  Christians,  all  laymen  save  one,  who 
in  the  two  hours  a  day  spent  in  going  to  their  New  York  busi- 
ness and  returning,  prepared  for  a  year  the  best  outlines  on  the 
Sunday-school  lessons  that  were  published  anywhere.  Their 
minds  were  more  rested  by  change  of  thought  than  if  the  time 
had  been  spent  in  smoking  or  reading  the  crime  columns  of  the 
daily  papers. 

An  oft-quoted  secret  of  success  is,  "  Keeping  up  with  the 
age  by  timely  novelties."  The  children  of  this  world  often 
change  the  arrangements  of  their  show-cases  and  windows. 
They  have  learned  the  large  truth  which  was  expressed  in  the 
small  joke  of  the  circus  clown  :  "  The  next  thing  is — some- 
thing else."  A  prominent  layman  once  said  to  me,  earnestly 
quoting  the  clown's  remark,  "  The  churches  need  to  have  that 
watchword  thrown  in  among  their  stereotyped  and  unchanging 
methods  of  work."  With  business-like  enterprise,  a  church 
should  occasionally  change  its  ways  of  working  for  newer  and 
better  ones,  or  even  for  methods  no  better  than  it  had  before, 
except  as  they  are  fresher. 

It  is  useless  to  seek  for  novelty  in  the  old  and  fixed  doctrines. 
Gravitation  in  science  and  the  divinity  of  Christ  in  theology  ; 
the  roundness  of  the  earth  as  a  doctrine  of  God's  world,  and 
the  Bible's  inspiration  as  a  doctrine  of  God's  word  —  on  these 
proved  facts  we  rest,  as  established  beyond  any  reasonable 
doubt.  We  have  no  ambition  to  follow  Murray  and  Miln  and 
other  "  wanderinor  stars,"  who,  breaking  away  from  these  old 


WHAT   CHUECHES   MAT   LEARN   FROM   COMMERCE.      85 

doctrines  and  seeking  novelties,  have  gone  deeper  and  deeper 
into  the  darkness  of  doubt. 

But  while  the  doctrines  of  religion  are  as  old  and  changeless 
as  gravitation,  its  methods  of  work  should  be  as  .new  and  timely 
as  if  the  Church  were  the  most  enterprising  of  business  houses. 
The  next  thing  in  church  work  is — something  else. 


IX. 

BUSINESS  MAXIMS  APPLIED  TO  CHURCH  WORK. 

Be  the  same  in  thine  own  act  and  valor 
As  thou  art  in  desire. — SHAKESPEAKE. 

ONE  of  the  most  frequent  replies  of  our  prominent  men  to 
my  question,  "  What  do  you  consider  essential  elements  of 
success  ?"  is  this  :  "Close  attention  to  business."  A  man  who 
has  "  other  fish  to  fry"  in  business  hours,  especially  if  they  are 
fish  which  he  has  caught  when  he  should  have  been  minding 
his  business,  will  find  his  judgment  day  in  this  world,  when,  in 
the  mercantile  agency  the  books  are  opened  that  record  against 
his  credit  that  he  "  keeps  a  dog  and  a  gun,"  but  does  not  keep 
his  shop  or  his  engagements  faithfully.  "  He  that  loveth 
pleasure  shall  not  be  rich."  "  Keep  thy  shop  and  it  will  keep 
thee."  In  our  great  business  of  saving  men,  churches  can 
have  no  great  success  unless  pastor  and  officers,  and  at  least  a 
goodly  percentage  of  the  members,  "  attend  closely  to  their 
business." 

Those  who  have  inadequate  views  of  their  responsibility  in 
preparing  to  preach  the  gospel  ought  to  be  impressively  re- 
minded of  their  failure  in  this  respect,  as  was  a  moderate  min- 
ister, who  was  a  keen  fisher,  when  he  said  to  Dr.  Andrew 
Thompson  :  "  I  wonder  you  spend  so  much  time  on  your  ser- 
mons, with  your  ability  and  ready  speech.  Many's  the  time 
I've  written  a  sermon  and  killed  a  salmon  before  breakfast. ' '  To 
which  saying  Dr.  Thompson  replied,  "  Well,  sir,  I'd  rather 
have  eaten  your  salmon  than  listened  to  your  sermon." 

If  a  pastor  should  frequently  neglect  to  be  in  his  place  on 
Sunday  when  in  health,  he  would  soon  have  his  resignation  sent 


BUSINESS   MAXIMS   APPLIED   TO   CHURCH    WORK.        87 

him.  That  would  be  business-like.  Why  should  a  church  not 
be  as  business-like  with  deacons  or  teachers  who  frequently 
absent  themselves  from  their  posts  ?  I  could  tell  you  of  a 
church  in  Arizona  or  elsewhere  in  which  for  a  year  only  three 
of  the  seven  deacons  even  frequented  the  prayer-meetings  or 
the  deacons'  meetings,  and  in  which  one  of  the  deacons  held 
office  for  a  year  without  attending  a  single  prayer-meeting  or 
deacons'  meeting  or  distributing  the  elements  of  a  single  com- 
munion season,  or  even  once  passing  a  contribution-box.  In- 
deed he  rejected  the  church's  creed,  whose  acceptance  was  the 
condition  of  eligibility.  In  that  same  church  and  that  same 
year  the  clerk  attended  but  one  meeting  of  the  examining  com- 
mittee, of  which  he  was  scribe.  And  the  treasurer  of  the  benevo- 
lent funds  was  almost  regularly  absent  when  such  collections 
were  taken.  Where  are  there  any  "  children  of  this  world  " 
who  do  business  in  that  fashion  ?  What  bank  would  keep  an 
officer  who  was  rarely  in  his  place  at  business  hours  ?  Are 
God's  business  hours — namely,  those  of  the  weekly  prayer- 
meeting  and  of  Sunday  services — less  important  ? 

That  a  cashier  and  teller  were  not  feeling  pleasantly  toward 
the  president  of  a  bank  would  not  make  it  necessary  for  them 
to  resign,  but  neither  would  it  excuse  them  for  holding  an 
office  without  performing  its  duties.  If,  like  Stanton  in 
Andrew  Johnson's  cabinet,  an  officer  feels  it  his  duty  to 
"  stick"  to  an  office  when  unfriendly  to  his  president,  he 
should  u  stick"  to  his  work  also.  An  old  Scotch  lady,  who 
disliked  her  minister  but  continued  her  duties  to  the  church,  put 
it  tersely,  when  the  pastor  asked  her  how  it  was  that  she  still 
came  to  the  church  :  "My  quarrel  is  with  you,  man;  it  no 
with  the  gospel."  Every  Christian,  in  office  or  out,  should 
stick  to  the  gospel  somewhere,  whoever  he  may  like  or  dislike. 
Can  you  tell  me  of  any  corporations  except  the  churches  that 
keep  on  the  rolls  a  lot  of  dishonorary  members  who  are  not  at 
work  ?  How  sad  the  significance  of  recent  church  statistics  ! 
In  1882  there  was  but  one  convert  to  each  twenty-nine  mem- 
bers in  the  Congregational  churches  of  the  United  States.  Tho 


88  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF    TO-DAY. 

ministers  alone  ought  to  have  done  better  than  that,  for  it  aver- 
ages but  four  to  each  minister,  hardly  enough  to  balance  the 
funerals.  Other  denominations  present  similar  figures — some  a 
little  better,  but  all  bad  enough. 

It  would  be  business-like  not  only  to  send  resignations  to 
neglectful  church  officers  but  also  to  privates  who  are  perpet- 
ually on  a  furlough  from  their  duties,  doing  nothing  beyond 
running  an  excuse  factory.  With  the  watchword,  "  A  busi- 
ness of  religion,"  each  church  should  thoroughly  revise  its  rolls 
at  least  once  a  year,  as  Sunday-schools  do  once  a  quarter,  and 
business  firms  oftener  still,  and  make  the  list  include  only 
"  practising  Christians,"  lest  it  should  be  publicly  credited,  as 
so  many  unpruned  churches  have  been,  with  keeping  in  its  fel- 
lowship "practising  knaves." 

The  chief  of  a  kraal  in  Natal,  South  Africa,  gives  his  con- 
sent to  his  people  to  becoming  Christians  thus  :  "  If  you  be- 
come better  men  and  women  by  becoming  Christians,  you  may 
remain  so  ;  if  not,  I  won't  let  you  be  Christians  at  all."  That 
is  a  good  rule  for  Americans  as  well  as  for  Africans. 

If  our  religion  "  means  business"  it  will  take  just  as  much 
rain,  just  as  much  heat,  just  as  much  cold,  just  as  much  weari- 
ness, to  keep  us  from  the  church  and  Christian  duty  as  from 
our  daily  occupations.  What  would  you  think  of  a  man  who 
only  went  to  his  business  in  fair  weather  ?  What  success  would 
you  expect  for  a  young  man  who  never  went  to  his  work  when 
the  thermometer  was  above  or  below  "  temperate"  ?  How  long 
would  you  employ  a  man  who  did  not  come  to  his  work  when 
lie  found  himself  a  little  weary  or  indisposed  or  not  feeling  like 
it?  How  many  of  your  excuses  for  absence  from  meetings  on 
Sunday  or  on  week  days,  or  for  other  neglects  of  duty,  would 
stand  the  analysis  of  the  question,  "  Would  this  same  excuse  be 
sufficient  to  keep  me  from  my  earthly  business  or  from  an 
expected  pleasure  ?"  That  question  is  a  good  standard  for 
measuring  a  Christian's  excuses.  If  an  excuse  will  stand  that 
test,  it  is  doubtless  a  good  one. 

"  A  business  of  religion" — that  was  the  idea  in  the  mind  of 


BUSINESS    MAXIMS    APPLIED    TO    CHURCH    WOKK.         89 

a  certain  boy  to  whom  a  preacher  said,  "  Is  your  father  a 
Christian  ?"  The  lad  replied,  "  Yes,  sir  ;  but  he  ain't  working 
at  it  much  lately.''1 

A  minister,  recently  settled  in  a  Connecticut  town,  called 
one  Saturday  upon  a  photographer  to  have  his  picture  taken. 
The  artist  did  not  recognize  him.  He  was  very  busy  with  the 
holiday  rush,  and  could  not  appoint  any  time  for  a  sitting. 
After  a  moment's  pause,  however,  he  turned  abruptly  to  the 
minister  with  the  question,  "Are  you  much  of  a  Christian?" 
A  little  surprised  at  such  an  unexpected  question,  the  minister 
said  that  he  was  trying  to  be  a  Christian.  The  artist  then  re- 
marked that  he  would  be  in  his  rooms  the  next  morning  (Sun- 
day) between  the  hours  of  nine  and  twelve,  and  would  be 
happy  to  see  him  if  he  would  drop  in  then.  ' '  Between  those 
hours  I  shall  be  in  the  pulpit,  preaching  the  gospel,"  replied 
the  minister,  "  and  will  return  the  compliment  and  ask  you  to 
drop  in  and  see  me  there  instead."  "  Oh  !  good-morning/' 
said  the  artist,  with  a  sheepish  look  upon  his  face,  as  he  per- 
ceived his  mistake  and  disappeared  in  his  dark  room. 

That  Chicago  expressman  who  advertised  at  the  moving 
time,  "  Furniture  loaded  so  as  to  show  to  the  best  advantage," 
manifested  a  deep  knowledge  of  one  of  the  most  dangerous 
traits  of  human  nature — the  desire  to  seem  other  than  we  are. 
Our  Christianity  must  be  as  deep  as  truth,  or  it  is  not  secure 
against  the  epidemic  of  fraud. 

As  a  cure  for  this  sham  religion  we  must  cultivate  TRUTH.  I 
do  not  mean  merely  its  surface,  veracity,  but  its  depth,  reality. 
We  need  to  introduce  the  Eastlake  style  into  character-building 
as  well  as  houses  ;  that  is,  instead  of  seeking  outwardness  arid 
show  by  veneering  and  varnishing,  let  us  be  what  we  seem. 
This  is  TRUTH,  for  which  the  man  was  seeking  who  prayed, 
**  Lord,  make  me  real." 

I  had  a  dream — whether  day-dream  or  night-dream  matters 
not — that  was  strangely  significant.  I  was  approaching  a  large 
city  by  railroad.  I  looked  from  the  car- windows  and  saw 
upon  barns  and  fences  the  signs  :  "  Go  to  1150  Main  Street 


90  SUCCESSFUL   ME2ST    Of   TO-DAY. 

for  all  kinds  of  books  at  lowest  prices."  Near  it  in  several 
cases  was  the  picture  of  a  man  with  a  carpet-bag  in  his  hand, 
walking  rapidly,  and  below  the  picture  were  the  words,  "  I'm 
going  to  1151  Main  Street  for  ready-made  goods. "  Another 
inscription  told  of  a  large  assortment  of  jewelry  at  1155  Main 
Street.  I  reached  the  city,  and  hurried  to  "  1150  Main  Street. " 
A  large  sign  over  the  door  and  handbills  in  the  window  an- 
nounced "  Books  of  all  sorts  at  very  low  prices."  I  went  in. 
The  bookseller  was  there,  but  not  a  book  was  to  be  seen  in  the 
store.  He  said  that  he  was  hoping  that  he  might  have  some. 
I  suppressed  my  indignation  and  went  into  "  1151  Main  Street" 
for  ready-made  goods.  Again  I  found  a  storekeeper,  but  not 
goods,  although  the  store  was  covered  with  placards  announc- 
ing "  great  bargains."  In  1155  I  found  the  same  falsehood. 
Like  the  others,  he  expected  stock  some  time.  I  walked  along 
the  street  and  found  many  such  stores.  On  the  whole  street 
there  were  about  400  stores,  and  although  every  one  had  its 
glaring  sign,  only  about  two  hundred  had  any  goods  to  show. 
The  king  of  the  country  came  into  the  street  and  entered  many 
of  the  stores  to  make  purchases,  but  found  so  many  places 
where  they  did  not  have  goods  corresponding  to  their  signs  and 
handbills  that  he  ordered  his  attendants  to  pass  through  the 
street  and  tear  down  all  the  false  signs  and  drive  out  all  the 
false  traders.  Then  there  came  the  crash  of  falling  signs,  and  I 
awoke  to  find  that  I  had  been  dreaming  over  a  church  record. 
There  were  long  rows  of  names  with  the  sign  "  Christian" 
over  them,  but,  alas,  how  many  had  nothing  but  a  sign  :  no 
fruits  of  the  spirit  behind  the  sign,  no  ' '  love,  joy,  peace,  meek- 
ness, gentleness,  patience"  !  None  of  that  activity  in  Christ- 
like  work,  none  of  that  tenderness  of  Christlike  sympathy, 
none  of  that  unselfish  devotion  to  the  salvation  of  others,  that 
is  implied  in  the  name  Christian  !  Our  religion  must  be  some- 
thing more  than  a  label.  Who  trusts  in  labels  ?  Who  thinks 
that  the  label  "  Butter"  always  means  butter,  or  that  "  Hon- 
orable" is  applied  only  to  men  of  honor  ?  When  the  King  of 


BUSINESS   MAXIMS   APPLIED  TO   CHURCH    WORK.        91 

kings  comes  to  make  up  his  jewels,  what  a  crash  there  will  be 
amid  these  false  signs  and  labels,  as  many  whose  profession 
has  said,  "  Lord,  Lord,"  shall  be  driven  out  with  the  word, 
"  L  know  you  not — Depart  !"  Tear  down  your  sign  if  you 
have  gone  out  of  the  business,  and  do  not  delude  passers-by 
with  the  expectation  of  finding  goods  that  you  have  long  since 
sold  out. 

But  there  is  another  edge  to  this  thought.  It  cuts  on  both 
sides.  Only  the  man  who  has  goods  to  sell  of  which  he  is 
ashamed  puts  out  no  sign  to  let  the  people  know  what  he  has. 
Now  there  are  men  who  are  engaged  in  the  Lord's  business  in  a 
small  way — men  who  are  trying  to  do  "  about  right,"  who  pri- 
vately claim  to  be  "  friends  of  Christ" — that  are  following  just 
the  policy  of  these  secret  kinds  of  business.  They  put  out  no 
sign  to  let  the  world  know  where  they  stand.  They  seem  at  least 
to  be  a  little  ashamed  of  their  business  with  Christ ;  men  cannot 
tell  surely  whether  they  arc  doing  business  for  God  or  the  devil. 
No  one  cries  out  more  than  they  against  those  of  the  church 
members  over  the  way  whose  goods  do  not  fully  correspond  to 
the  signs,  and  yet  they  fail  to  see  the  same  inconsistency  and 
hypocrisy  in  not  having  the  sign  correspond  with  the  goods. 
Hypocrisy  is  a  discord  between  the  inward  and  outward  life  in 
either  direction.  It  is  just  as  surely  hypocrisy  if  the  outward 
profession  does  not  correspond  to  the  heart's  convictions  as  it 
is  if  the  inward  life  does  not  correspond  to  the  outward  pro- 
fession. 

Christian  man  by  profession,  let  your  goods  be  equal  to  your 
sign.  Moral  man,  claiming  to  be  a  friend  of  Christ,  let  your 
sign  correspond  to  your  goods.  God  bids  every  friend  of 
Christ  put  the  mark  of  the  blood  on  his  door-post.  He  cries 
to  every  man,  "  Where  art  thou  ?"  We  should  let  our  con- 
victions be  known.  "  If  the  Lord  be  God,  serve  him,  or  if  Baal, 
serve  him." 

The  business  man's  most  frequent  test  of  a  new  enterprise  is, 
"  Will  it  pay?"  Ask  that  man  who  has  tried  all  the  enjoy- 


92  SUCCESSFUL   MEtf   OF  TO-DAY. 

ments  of  wealth  and  pleasure  and  found  them  empty  and 
unsatisfactory,  and  who  for  forty  years  has  tried  religion  of 
Christ,  "  Does  it  pay  ?"  and  hear  his  answer,  "  It  satisfies 
my  longings  as  nothing  else  can  do."  Ask  that  man  who  is 
looking  death  in  the  face  and  is  about  to  leave  all  his  property 
and  friends,  whom  he  has  already  ceased  to  know,  and  hear 
him  say,  ii Precious,  precious,  precious  Jesus. "  Religion  pays 
"  a  hundredfold  in  this  life,  and  in  the  world  to  come  life  ever- 
lasting." In  history  we  see  many  a  man  who  was  diligent  in 
his  earthly  business  standing  before  kings  ;  in  heaven  we  shall 
see  all  those  who  were  diligent  in  our  Father's  business  stand- 
ing before  the  King  of  kings.  Yes,  it  pays,  it  pays  to  serve 
God. 

Another  business  principle  which  we  would  apply  to  this 
great  business  of  eternity  is  this  :  "  Be  sure  you're  right,  and 
then  go  ahead."  That  is,  be  clearly  convinced  that  a  certain 
course  is  for  your  interest,  and  then  take  it  at  once.  I  have 
often  asked  business  inen  who  were  not  Christians  but  admitted 
that  they  ought  to  be,  this  question  :  "  If  you  should  see  the 
means  of  securing  a  thousand  dollars  as  clearly  as  you  see  your 
duty  and  opportunity  to  be  a  Christian,  would  you  not  use  the 
means  at  once  ?"  and  they  would  answer,  "  Yes."  They  would 
admit  that  one  thousand  dollars  was  not  worthy  to  be  mentioned 
beside  religion,  and  yet  day  after  day  they  would  see  that  clear 
path  to  the  cross  and  not  walk  in  it. 

Garfield,  in  young  manhood,  said  to  a  revival  preacher, 
"  Sir,  I  have  been  listening  to  your  preaching  night  after 
night,  and  I  am  fully  persuaded  that  if  these  things  you  say 
are  true,  it  is  the  duty  and  highest  interest  of  every  man,  espe- 
cially every  young  man,  to  accept  of  religion  and  seek  to  be 
a  man.  But  really,  I  don't  know  whether  this  thing  is  true  or 
not.  I  can't  say  that  I  disbelieve  it,  but  I  dare  not  say  that  I 
fully  and  honestly  believe.  If  I  were  sure  that  it  were  true,  I 
would  most  gladly  give  it  my  heart  and  life."  The  minister 
at  length  showed  him  that  whatever  might  be  the  solution  of 


BUSINESS   MAXIMS    APPLIED   TO   CHURCH    WORK.       93 

ten  thousand  mysteries,  there  was  one  assured  and  eternal  alli- 
ance for  every  soul  in  Christ,  and  that  the  man  who  loved  and 
followed  him  would  surely  be  safe. 

Garfield,  thus  assured  that  he  was  right,  went  forward  into  a 
Christian  life. 

Be  sure  you  are  right,  and  then  go  ahead. 


X. 

IS  IT  NECESSARY  TO   BE   HONEST   IN   ORDER   TO 
BE   POOR  ? 

Oh,  if  religion  were  a  diffusive,  practical,  every-day  reality,  there 
would  be  a  marvellous  change  in  the  aspects  of  life  and  the  condi- 
tions of  humanity  around  us.  The  great  city,  now  so  gross  and  pro- 
fane, would  become  as  a  vast  cathedral,  through  whose  stony  aisles 
would  flow  perpetual  service  ;  where  labor  would  discharge  its  daily 
offices,  and  faith  and  patience  keep  their  heavenward  look,  and  love 
present  its  offerings.  Yea,  the  very  roll  of  wheels  through  its  streets 
would  be  a  litany,  and  the  sound  of  homeward  feet  the  chant  of  its 
evening  psalin. — CHAPIN. 

If  any  one  thing  was,  more  than  any  other,  the  means  of  promot- 
ing his  success  in  life,  we  should  say  it  was  the  faculty  of  command- 
ing the  confidence  of  others.  —WILLIAM  K.  LAWRENCE,  in  Diary  and 
Correspondence  of  Amos  Lawrence. 

His  religious  life  was  never  weakened  by  his  prosperity,  and  as  he 
became  more  wealthy  he  associated  himself  with  more  religious 
societies. — New  York  Tribune  on  Hon.  William  E.  Dodge. 

IF  religion  needs  business  as  a  strong  and  wise  husband, 
surely  business  needs  religion  as  a  restraining  and  guiding  wife. 
As  God  is  everywhere,  religion  belongs  there.  God  is  in  your 
"  busy  day"  as  well  as  your  "  still  hour."  "  Religion  is  the 
right  use  of  a  man's  whole  self." 

Many  of  the  evils  of  to-day  are  due  to  the  unwarranted  par- 
tition which  has  been  raised  between  what  is  called  **  secular" 
and  what  is  labelled  "  religious,"  as  if  they  were  independent 
provinces  under  different  rulers.  God  bombards  that  wall  with 
the  command,  "Do  all  to  the  glory  of  God."  Thus  he 
teaches  us  who  have  profanely  called  modern  history  "  pro- 


HONEST   IN"   ORDER   TO   BE   POOR  ?  95 

fane"  that  it  is  all  sacred — the  newest  testament  of  the  provi- 
dence of  God.  A  pulpit  is  no  more  "  a  sacred  desk"  than  a 
bookkeeper's.  Both  are  to  be  used  for  the  good  of  humanity 
and  in  accordance  with  God's  laws.  Religion  has  to  do  with 
insurance  as  well  as  assurance.  "  He  that  provideth  not  for 
his  own  has  denied  the  faith,  and  is  worse  than  an  infidel."  A 
minister  is  hardly  under  more  obligation  to  keep  a  clean  heart,  a 
clean  mouth,  and  a  clean  hand,  than  a  layman.  "  Every  man 
shall  give  account  of  himself  to  God."  Everyday  is  "the 
Lord's  day,"  and  every  week  should  be  a  "holy  week." 
'*  There  goes  the  Sunday  man,"  said  a  child,  pointing  to  a 
preacher.  God  wants  Monday  men  as  well. 

Solomon  said  that  God  could  not  be  shut  up  in  a  temple. 
He  is  everywhere,  even  in  Wall  Street.  "  The  eyes  of  the 
Lord  are  in  every  place."  The  merchant's  money  should  be 
used  as  conscientiously  as  the  minister's  mind.  It  was  to  a 
general  that  God  said  that  the  Bible  "  should  not  depart  out 
of  his  mouth,  but  he  should  meditate  therein  day  and  night, 
that  he  might  observe  to  do  according  to  all  that  is  written 
therein,  and  thus  make  his  way  prosperous  and  have  good  suc- 
cess."* The  Bible  was  thus  divinely  presented  as  a  help  to 
success. 

It  is  written  in  the  name  of  Deity,  "  I  have  created  the 
smith  that  bloweth  the  coals  in  the  fire."  f  Of  the  warriors  in 
the  cause  of  right  it  is  said  that  "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  was 
upon  Samson,"  and  "  upon  Gideon."  The  public  officer  has 
the  same  help — "  The  Spirit  of  the  Lord  came  upon  Othniel, 
and  he  judged  Israel." 

In  the  prophecy  of  Isaiah,  at  the  close  of  a  description  of  the 
operations  of  farming,  it  is  written  (giving  the  literal  render- 
ing) :  "  This  also  goeth  forth  from  Jehovah  of  nosts  ;  He 
gives  wonderful  intelligence,  high  understanding."  It  is  also 
said,  in  the.  same  connection,  in  regard  to  the  farmer's  skill, 
"His  God  doth  teach  him." 

*  Read  also  Prov.  6  :  22,  23.  f  Read  also  Ex.  31  :  2-5. 


96  SUCCESSFUL   ME^   OF   TO-DAY. 


The  Bible  here  asserts  that  God  is  with  us  continually,  as 
well  as  individually,  even  in  the  every-day  business  of  life  to 
give  "intelligence"  and  "understanding,"  and  "teach  us 
how  to  act  rightly.  '  ' 

The  farmer  may  well  realize  that  God  is  his  senior  partner, 
for  he  can  only  plant  and  reap,  while  God  must  water  and  give 
the  increase,  and  the  harvest  is  literally  the  joint  product  of 
God  and  man.  But,  in  other  departments  of  business,  when 
you  deal  with  God  in  human  nature,  the  Divine  nearness  is 
even  closer  than  with  those  who  deal  with  God  in  nature,  for  in 
a  mystic  and  wonderful  way  the  Father  has  not  only  put  him- 
self in  us,  as  light  fills  the  mists  of  the  rainbow,  but  he  has  also 
officially  declared  himself  identical  with  all  those  who  believe 
in  him. 

How  sacred  and  noble,  then,  is  all  honest  work  of  hand,  or 
head,  or  heart,  as  the  outcome  of  this  divine  illumination  ! 
Handling  money  or  tools  faithfully  is  as  glorious  as  handling 
the  sword  of  the  patriot  or  the  scroll  of  the  prophet. 

In  some  of  the  old  towns  of  Europe  a  cross  used  to  stand  in 
the  market,  to  teach  the  buyers  and  sellers  to  rule  their  actions 
and  sanctify  their  gains  by  the  remembrance  of  the  cross.  So 
God  commanded  the  ancient  Jews  to  wear  on  the  borders  of 
their  garments  a  blue  ribbon  as  their  chromatic  ticket  for 
heaven,  and  a  little  box  containing  the  law  of  love  to  God  and 
man  "  as  a  sign"  upon  the  right  arm  —  these  memoranda  of 
their  duty  and  destination  being  intended  to  restrain  them  from 
living  merely  for  earthly  and  selfish  ends.  Even  the  Chinese 
recognize  a  relation  between  business  and  religion  by  setting  up 
idols  in  their  shops.*  I  fear  the  idol  in  many  of  our  shops  is  that 

*  An  amusing  anecdote  is  told  by  an  American  authoress  in  a  work 
on  Hindoostan,  which,  though  it  refers  to  the  pagan  Hindoos,  might 
find  its  counterpart  elsewhere.  "  At  TJlwar  the  British  agent  wished 
to  plant  an  avenue  of  trees  on  either  side  of  the  road  in  front  of  the 
shops,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  welcome  shade.  He  accordingly 
made  ohpice  of  peepul-trees,  as  they  are  considered  sacred  by  the 
Hindoos.  But  so  soon  as  the  Bunnyahs,  or  native  shopkeepers, 


HONEST   IN   ORDER  TO   BE   POOB  ?  97 

one  whose  shrine  is  the  safe — that  one  which  a  young  Ameri- 
can proudly  said  was  the  only  God  he  worshipped,  "  the 
almighty  dollar."  The  sacrifices  that  this  deity  requires  of  his 
worshippers  are  embezzled  trust  funds  and  the  spoils  of  specula- 
tive stealing.  Such  frauds  as  those  of  the  star  routes  are  his 
anthems  of  praise.  As  Dagon  was  dashed  to  the  ground  when 
the  ark  of  God  was  brought  into  his  temple,  so  to-day  the  only 
power  that  can  conquer  this  money-god,  who  brings  on  the 
land,  with  every  decade,  a  flood  of  distrust,  panic,  and  hard 
times  from  the  clouds  of  fraud  which  he  creates — the  only 
power  than  can  checkmate  this  "  covetousness  which  is  idola- 
try" is  the  mind  of  Christ  in  the  hearts  of  men. 

What  we  need  is  not  more  paper-money  or  more  gold,  but 
more  of  God.  There  is  only  one  place  where  God  is  not — in 
the  thoughts  of  the  wicked,  and  they  are  the  only  ones  who 
would  post  up  the  sign,  "  No  admittance  of  religion  to  busi- 
ness." 

A  certain  wheat  speculator  is  quoted  as  saying,  "  There  is 
no  morality  in  the  Board  of  Trade.  There  is  no  necessity  for 
any."  How  much  more  appropriate  the  motto  over  the  door 
of  the  Exchange  in  London,  "  The  earth  is  the  Lord's,  and  the 
fulness  thereof."  That  motto  holds  up  the  right  ideal,  even 
if  it  seldom  gets  inside  the  door  or  the  hearts  of  the  place. 
Let  the  forgotten  and  neglected  Bible  truths  be  written  on  all 
our  hearts,  that  religion  is  not  a  thing  of  the  seventh  day  of 
each  week,  but  of  the  seven  days  ;  not  of  a  few  hallowed  places, 
but  of  all  places  ;  not  of  certain  postures  and  words,  but  of  all 
situations  and  conversations.  We  can  no  more  get  away  from 
the  sphere  of  religion  than  from  God. 

Oxygen  unites  with  all  the  other  sixty-five  elements  that 
make  up  the  universe,  except  one  ;  so  true  religion  unites  and 

heard  of  his  selection,  they  one  and  ail  declared  that  if  this  were  done 
they  would  not  occupy  the  shops  ;  and  when  asked  for  a  reason,  re- 
plied, it  was  because  they  could  not  tell  untruths  or  swear  falsely 
under  their  shade  ;  adding,  'And  how  can  \oe  carry  on  business  other- 
wise?' " 


98"  frtPOCESSFUL   MEN   OF  TO-DAY.     * 

mingles  with  every  occupation  of  life  except  sin.  The  ignoring; 
of  this  truth  is  at  the  root  of  the  corruption  and  inefficiency 
found  with  all  false  and  formal  religions. 

The  swine  merchants  of  G-adara — Jews  whose  laws  forbade 
them  to  touch  pork,  and  whose  business  therefore  was  illegal — 
when  Christ  allowed  the  legion  of  demons  whom  he  had  cast 
out  of  the  demoniacs  to  destroy  two  thousand  head  of  this 
illegal  stock,  "  besought  him  to  depart  out  of  their  coasts." 
They  cared  more  for  pork  than  for  the  power  of  Christ  as  a 
healer  and  saviour  in  their  community.  Erase  the  s  in  "  swine 
merchants"  and  you  have  their  successors  to-day,  who  cry  out 
against  having  humane  principles  applied  to  their  business. 
The  demons  who  once  inhabited  hogs  live  in  bottles  to-day; 
and  the  Christ-spirit  in  the  prohibition  movement  will  soon 
drive  them,  bottles  and  all,  down  a  steep  place  into  the  sea. 

Christ  drove  oxen  and  sheep  and  doves  from  the  house  of 
God,  but  those  whose  business  practices  are  "  crooked  "  reverse 
that  action  and  drive  all  thoughts  of  God  from  their  places  of 
merchandise.  If  they  were  revising  hymns  they  would  sing, 

"  Far  from  my  thoughts,  O  God,  be  gone, 
Let  all  my  business  hours  alone." 

They  do  not  even  allow  worship  to  have  the  time  they  spend  in 
church,  but  while  apparently  listening  to  the  Bible  they  are 
really  planning  bargains,  like  the  tanner  who  dreamed  that  he 
found  himself  in  church  with  a  pile  of  leather  on  his  back  as 
he  marched  up  the  aisle.  To  the  God's-eye  view  many  a  busi- 
ness man  carries  a  load  of  leather  or  cloth  or  crockery  or  clocks 
on  his  back  as  he  goes  to  his  pew. 

In  some  respects  it  might  be  a  good  thing  if  a  man  thought 
over  his  business  plans  in  the  church,  and  by  the  light  of 
religion,  but  it  is  not  well  for  any  man  to  saut  out  thoughts  of 
religion  from  his  week-day  work. 

In  every  legitimate  business  true  religion  is  a  positive  helper. 
It  is  frequently  mentioned  as  one  of  the  secrets  of  success  in 
the  replies  which  I  have  received  from  prominent  men. 


HONEST   IN   ORDER  TO    BE   POOR  ?  99 

Of  course  I  know  that  there  are  a  few  exceptional  men  who 
are  at  once  paupers  in  character  and  millionaires  in  wealth.  """One 
of  the  best  known  lawyers  in  the  land,  who  has  risen  to  be 
judge,  author,  editor,  says,  in  his  reply  to  my  circular,  "  Of 
those  who  have  made  great  fortunes,  very  few  would  admit  that 
lying  and  cheating  were  the  '  chief  elements  '  of  their  success. 
Yet  every  lawyer  knows  it  to  be  true."  Alas,  I  might  add 
that  many  lawyers  help  to  make  it  so,  but  these  fortunes  of 
muddy  money  are  exceptional  and  short-lived.  It  is  not  neces- 
sary for  a  man  to  be  poor  to  be  honest,  nor  to  be  poor  if  he  is 
honest.  Wendell  Phillips  says,  "  A  Christian  can  not  be  a 
millionaire  nor  a  Greek  scholar,"  meaning  that  a  man  who  has 
Christ's  enthusiasm  for  saving  men  cannot  devote  enough  time 
to  either  money-getting  or  knowledge-getting  to  master  a  mill- 
ion or  a  foreign  tongue.  If  that  statement  is  not  wholly  true 
it  contains  a  great  truth,  namely,  that  a  true  Christian  will  not 
make  his  chief  aim  money  or  mind,  but  men. 

But  a  devoted  Christian,  recognizing  the  power  of  money  in 
doing  good,*  may  devote  himself  to  such  an  acquisition  as 

*Long  after  the  grave  closes  with  oblivion  over  most  of  the 
present  generation,  Harvard  will  remember  with  joyful  gratitude  the 
nearly  $300,000  given  to  it  by  Agassiz  ;  and  Princeton  will  remember 
the  million  and  over  which  it  got  from  John  C.  Green,  and  the 
magnificent  chapel  built  by  Marquand  ;  and  Wesleyan  will  recount 
the  repeated  donations  of  Seney  ;  and  Williams  will  herald  the  names 
of  William  E.  Dodge  and  Governor  Morgan  ;  and  Auburn  Seminary 
will  bless  the  splendid  liberality  of  Edwin  Morgan  ;  Union  Seminary 
will  dwell  with  pleasing  emphasis  upon  the  benfactions  of  Messrs. 
Brown  and  Morgan  and  Dodge  ;  and  the  seminary  of  the  Reformed 
Church  at  New  Brunswick  will  hold  in  reverent  esteem  the  memories 
of  James  Suydam  and  of  Gardner  A.  Sage,  each  of  whom  gave  it  over 
$200,000.  From  the  cane  brakes  of  the  South,  too,  will  rise  through 
future  years  songs  of  blessing  upon  the  head  of  John  F.  Slater  for  hav- 
ing provided,  at  a  cost  of  over  a  million  of  dollars,  a  better  education, 
mental  and  moral,  for  the  neglected  colored  people,  while  the  "  poor 
whites"  of  Louisiana  will  thank  Paul  Toulane,  now  of  Princeton, 
for  his  enormous  outlay  of  two  millions  of  dollars  in  founding 
schools  for  their  improvement.  To  read  of  these  munificent  endow. 


100  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF  TO-DAY,    t 

earnestly  as  the  minister  to  the  getting  of  knowledge-power, 
and  his  sterling  Christian  integrity  will  be,  not  a  hindrance  but 
a  help  to  wealth. 

The  wealthy  men  of  our  cities,  as  well  as  of  our  farms,  are 
chiefly  religious  men. 

I  asked  a  prominent  business  man  of  Chicago,  who  has  been 
active  in  the  very  heart  of  its  commercial  life  for  sixteen  years, 
to  make  a  careful  list  of  its  one  hundred  richest  men,  and  then 
tell  me  how  many  of  them  were  church  members.  His  report 
was,  "  70  church  members  ;  24  attend  church,  and  I  think  are 
not  members  ;  3  I  consider  dissipated,  and  3  are  Jews  who  are 
good  citizens." 

Although  wealth  has  dulled  the  piety  of  some  of  these,  there 
is  no  question  but  that  religious  principles  helped  them  as 
young  men  to  save  money  and  themselves. 

One  of  the  wealthiest  manufacturers  of  Philadelphia  told  me 
that  the  percentage  of  Christian  men  among  the  wealthy  of 
that  city  was  as  good  as  in  Chicago.  Rev.  Dr.  Washington 
Gladden  is  authority  for  the  statement  that  about  three  fourths 
of  the  business  men  in  the  city  of  Springfield,  Massachusetts, 
are  actively  engaged  in  Christian  work.  These  three  represent 
the  country  at  large  far  better  than  New  York  does.  Three 
fourths  of  the  replies  to  the  question,  "  Are  you  a  church  mem- 
ber ?"  were  in  the  affirmative.  "Blessed  are  the  meek,  for 
they  shall  inherit  the  earth." 

"  There  are  in  this  loud  whirling  tide 

Of  human  care  and  crime, 

With  whom  the  melodies  abide 

Of  the  everlasting  chime  ; 

ments,  and  to  think  of  the  endless  good  they  are  designed  to  accom- 
plish, fairly  makes  one  envy  the  rich  man  his  opportunities  of 
sending  a  new  and  higher  life  throbbing  through  thousands  of 
bosoms.  And  yet,  let  us  not  envy  him  his  good  fortune,  but  rather 
praise  God  that  he  has  it  coupled  with  the  disposition  to  use  it  so  fruit- 
fully and  so  nobly  in  the  interest  of  philanthropy,  of  truth,  of 
goodness,  and  of  all  redemptive  agencies. — Christian  at  Work.  •  - 


HONEST   IN   ORDER   TO   BE   POOR  ?  101 

Who  carry  music  in  their  heart 
Through  dusky  lane  and  wrangling  mart, 
Plying  their  daily  task  with  busier  feet, 
Because  their  secret  souls  a  holy  strain  repeat."* 

The  orbit  of  success  is  from  prayer  to  work  and  from  work 
to  prayer,  as  Fra  Angelico  went  from  prayer  to  painting  and 
from  painting  to  prayer,  and  as  I  have  known  organists  to  go 
from  oratory  to  organ. 

There  are  some  Christians  who  do  not  believe  the  * 1  holy 
strain"  of  prayer  at  all  helps  "the  busy  feet."  It  does  not 
when  the  prayer  is  so  loaded  with  selfishness  that  it  cannot  fly 
higher  than  the  pocket. 

A  Christian  broker  of  New  York,  who  knew  Daniel  Drew 
intimately,  told  me  this  unpublished  story  of  his  effort  to  use 
prayer  as  a  "  bull  "  or  *'  bear"  in  the  stock  market.  He  was 
spending  a  Sunday  in  the  country,  and  heard  a  sermon  on  tak- 
ing God  as  a  partner  in  business.  At  the  close  of  the  service 
Mr.  Drew  said  to  a  Christian  business  man  who  was  with  him, 
"  Do  you  believe  that  God  will  really  help  a  man  in  his  busi- 
ness if  he  prays  about  it  ?"  "  Yes,"  replied  his  friend.  "  I 
don't  know  about  it,"  said  Mr.  Drew,  but  that  night  his  friend 
heard  him  overhead  in  his  room  wrestling  long  and  earnestly  in 
prayer.  It  was  like  the  pagan  Greeks  selfishly  praying  to 
Mercury  for  successful  bargains.  The  next  day  Mr.  Drew 
returned  to  New  York  early,  and  went  into  Erie  stock  opera- 
tions with  a  high  hand,  but  lost  heavily.  A  few  weeks  after 
he  met  his  friend  again,  and  said,  "  You  remember  that  coun- 
try sermon*  about  prayer  and  profits?"  "Yes."  "Well, 
there's  nothing  on  to  it,  Pve  tried  it.71  As  well  might  a  child 
say  it  was  no  use  to  ask  his  father  for  anything  because  some 
selfish  and  needless  request  was  refused.  On  the  other  side  of 
the  account  stands  the  fact  that  Chicago  business  men,  who  in 
large  numbers  gave  the  hour  from  11  to  12  to  a  business  man's 
prayer- meeting,  during  Mr.  Moody 's  revival  meetings  in  that 

*  Keble. 


103  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

city,  testified  that  instead  of  doing  less  business  they  were  able 
to  do  more,  because  of  the  mental  quickening  and  rest  of  spirit 
which  the  meeting  gave  them. 

This  fact  is  in  harmony  with  that  greater  fact  that  the  only 
nations  which  are  up  to  the  times  in  arts  and  industries  are 
Christian  nations,  and  nearly  all  the  great  inventions  which  are 
revolutionizing  the  business  world  were  invented  by  men  of 
prayer.  All  nations  which  have  not  been  directly  influenced  by 
Christianity  are  behind  the  times  in  business  matters,  weaving 
by  hand  while  Christian  nations  weave  by  swift-footed  steam. 


REFORMERS. 


XI. 

MONEY   AND   MORALS. 

The  city  !  What  is  it  but  a  vast  amphitheatre,  filled  with  racers, 
with  charioteers,  with  eager  competitors,  surrounded  by  an  unseen 
and  awful  array  of  witnesses  ?  And  here,  daily,  the  lists  are  opened, 
and  men  contend  for  success,  for  station,  for  power.  "  If  a  man 
strive  for  masteries,  yet  is  he  not  crowned,  except  he  strive  law- 
fully. ' ' —  CHAPIN. 

No  statements  as  to  the  secrets  of  success  are  to  be  taken  as 
more  matter-of-fact  than  those  which  relate  to  character  and 
the  inner  life.  I  believe  our  honored  and  wealthy  men  when 
they  name  in  their  replies,  among  the  helps  to  their  success, 
' '  Love  to  God  and  man, ' '  ' '  Consecration  of  life  to  God, "  ' '  An 
underlying  motive  to  please  God,"  "  Prayer  for  direction,  sup- 
port, and  success,"  "  Trusting  in  God  to  help  me,  and  not  trust- 
ing too  much  in  others. ' '  One  of  the  best-known  manufacturers 
of  our  country  says  of  his  success,  "  My  early  connection  with 
the  Church  did  more  than  all  else."  And  then  "honesty," 
which  is  the  only  holiness  in  market  dress,  is  mentioned  in 
nearly  all  of  the  replies  as  absolutely  essential  to  abiding  suc- 
cess, even  in  this  world. 

On  the  other  hand,  "bad  company"  and  "bad  habits," 
which  are  other  names  for  the  lack  of  religion,  are  star  per- 
formers in  the  list  of  reasons  for  failure. 

Of  Mr.  Green,  of  Savannah,  Ga.,  who  recently  died,  full  of 
years  and  full  of  honors,  Dr.  Prime,  of  the  Observer,  says 
this  : ."  To  the  young  who  questioned  him  as  to  the  secret  of 
success  in  life,  I  have  heard  him  at  various  times  assign  three 
distinct  reasons  for  his  own  : 


106  SUCCESSFUL  MEN    OF  TO-DAY. 

"  '  First,  I  was  enabled  to  say  No,  when  asked  to  join  low 
company  or  frequent  drinking-saloons. '  (Landing  at  Savannah 
as  an  English  immigrant  at  the  age  of  twenty-five,  he  was  wel- 
comed by  six  young  Englishmen,  and  asked,  by  way  of  hospi- 
tality, to  take  something  to  drink.  He  said,  '  Yes,  if  I  can 
choose  my  own  drink  ;'  and,  amid  their  sherry-cobblers  and 
mint-juleps,  he  chose  lemonade.  This  course  he  pursued,  in 
spite  of  jeers  and  taunts,  living  to  see  five  of  those  young  men 
of  position  and  capacity  fill  drunkards'  graves.) 

"  A  second  reason  was  *  consideration  for  the  poor  '  (Psalm 
41).  He  often  said  that  when  he  came  out  from  England  to 
enter  on  a  salary  of  six  hundred  dollars  a  year,  he  landed  with 
one  dollar  in  his  pocket,  and  gave  away  half  of  it  to  a  man 
poorer  than  himself,  and  the  half  he  gave,  not  the  half  he 
kept,  was  the  secret  of  his  fortune.  Giving  is  the  father  of 
getting. 

"  The  third  reason  was  his  observance  of  the  fifth  command- 
ment. Year  by  year  he  went  over  to  see  his  old  father  in  Eng' 
land,  and  to  bestow  comforts  upon  him.  On  the  very  last 
occasion  of  seeing  him,  the  old  man  pressed  him  down  upon 
his  knees,  and,  in  patriarchal  fashion,  invoked  the  blessing  of 
the  God  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  and  Jacob  upon  him,  closing  with 
these  words  :  '  As  thou  hast  been  a  good  son,  so  may  God  give 
thee  good  children,  and  it  shall  be  well  with  thee  now  and 
forever.'  " 

Who  cannot  see  that  religion  is  a  mighty  ally  of  economy, 
which  is  one  of  the  essentials  of  a  young  man's  success  ?  Vices 
cost  more  than  virtues.  A  pew  is  cheaper  than  theatre  tickets, 
and  water  or  coffee  than  wine.  Contributions  for  charity  draw 
more  lightly  on  the  purse  than  the  taxes  of  fast  living. 

When  a  yonng  man's  Christianity  keeps  him  from  thinning 
out  his  body  and  his  pocketbook  by  tobacco,  the  saving  is  still 
greater.  Many  a  young  smoker  burns  up  in  advance  a  fifty- 
thousand-dollar  business.  If  you  doubt  it,  reckon  up  the  cost 
of  your  cigars  per  year,  and  then  multiply  it  by  forty  and  add 
the  compound  interest  on  each  year's  expense. 


MCW.BY  AND   MOEALS.  1"0? 

Religion  is  also  more  favorable  to  the  development  of  a 
sound  body,  which  is  another  element  of  success.  Health 
helps  to  wealth,  and  religion,  by  its  restraint  of  destroying  pas- 
sions, helps  to  health.  "Righteousness  tendeth  to  life."* 
In  recent  visits  to  several  prisons  I  found  few  gray-haired  crim- 
inals. The  officers  told  me  this  was  not  because  the  young 
criminals  were  led  by  punishment  to  reform,  for  very  few  did 
so,  but  because  the  victims  of  vice  and  crime  "  do  not  live  out 
half  their  days. ' '  The  grave  comes  to  them  before  the  gray. 
So  true  is  this  that  life  insurance  examiners  always  feel  the 
moral  pulse,  which  is,  of  course,  chiefly  conserved  by  religion. 

Every  one  knows,  or  ought  to  know,  that  for  nearly  half  a 
century  now  many  of  the  best  life  assurance  societies  of  Eng- 
land have  insured  moderate  drinkers  and  total '  abstainers  in 
separate  sections,  and  that  a  bonus  has  been  paid  to  the  sections 
made  up  of  total  abstainers  of  seven,  thirteen,  seventeen,  and  in 
some  cases  of  twenty-three  per  cent  over  that  paid  to  the  section 
of  moderate  drinkers,  because  abstainers  live  so  much  longer  than 
moderate  drinker s.\ 

Religion  helps  to  business  success  by  its  quickening  influence 
on  the  mind.  The  stimulation  which  education  without  relig- 
ion gives  is  apt  to  be  checkmated  by  vice  or  selfishness.  Of 
1518  convicts  in  the  Sing  Sing  State  Prison  in  1880,  only  45 
could  not  read,  and  only  70  could  not  write.  In  Auburn  State 
Prison  in  the  same  year  there  were  14  college  graduates,  25  of 
academies,  17  from  high  schools,  412  from  common  schools, 
and  only  87  out  of  897  without  any  education.  In  Clinton 
State  Prison  there  were  but  27  with  no  education,  out  of  247.J 
Evidently  the  mind  needs  moral  education  as  well  as  intellect- 
ual to  keep  it  from  failure. 

Religion  helps  the  mind,  not  only  by  quickening  it,  but  also 
by  quieting  it.  Contentment  is  not  only  better  than  wealth, 
but  leads  to  it.  Haste  makes  waste,  especially  haste  to  be  rich. 

*  See  also  Prov.  7  :  2  ;  10  :  27-30  ;  11  :  19  ;  19  :  23. 

f  Joseph  Cook's  prelude  of  February  5th,  1883. 

j  See  also- Chapter  I.       ...  .  ,.',..-' 


108  SUCCESSFUL  MEH   OF  TO-DAY. 

The  very  fever  of  anxiety  for  wealth  interferes  with  its  acquisi- 
tion. Men  who  are  in  mad  haste  to  get  to  the  top  of  the 
ladder  are  pretty  sure  to  fall  to  the  bottom  by  some  mis-step. 
Contentment,  combined  Avith  wise  ambition,  carefully  climbs  to 
the  top.  The  Christian  man's  mind  is  quieted  by  that  won- 
derful bequest  in  our  Father's  last  will  and  "  Testament,"  "All 
things  are  yours."  It  is  as  if  He  had  said,  Your  senses  are 
delighted  by  the  fragrance  and  beauty  of  the  rich  man's  garden 
and  the  music  that  steals  out  from  his  palace,  and  if  you  are 
satisfied  that  he  should  have  them,  he  can  say  no  more  ;  indeed, 
your  unselfish  satisfaction  is  the  deepest,  for  it  is  only  the 
miser  who  enjoys  only  what  he  owns.  That  man  is  richest 
who  can  enjoy  the  luxuries  and  beauties  around  him  without 
the  vulgar  idea  of  possession.  In  this  deep  sense,  as  well  as 
the  more  literal  one  to  which  I  have  referred,  the  words  of 
Christ  are  true,  '  *  Blessed  are  the  meek,  for  they  shall  inherit 
the  earth." 

Religion  helps  to  success  chiefly  by  fortifying  integrity,  which 
is  a  man's  best  "  reserve  stock."  It  is  the  business  house  that 
is  built  on  this  rock  that  stands  fires  and  floods. 

How  was  it  that  so  many  of  the  great  business  houses  of 
Chicago,  when  every  dollar  of  their  property  was  swept  away 
by  the  great  fire,  were  able  at  once  to  resume  even  wholesale 
business  ?  With  what  coin  did  penniless  men  buy  their  new 
stock  ?  With  integrity.  Their  record  was  their  revenue.  A 
good  name  was  in  some  cases  literally  worth  as  much  as  great 
riches.  Their  business  biography  in  the  mercantile  agency, 
with  its  record  that  they  always  paid  one  hundred  cents  on  the 
dollar,  and  paid  promptly  and  dealt  honorably  and  worked  in- 
dustriously— that  biography  was  as  good  as  a  bank  account. 
Character  was  their  capital.  That  is,  not  Bible,  but  Bradshaw  ; 
not  Sunday-school  morality,  but  Mercantile  Agency  truth.  One 
who,  like  Job,  loses  his  property  but  retains  his  integrity,  has 
not  'Most  all."  It  is  like  losing  the  frame  from  one  of 
Raphael's  pictures,  but  retaining  the  picture  itself.  One  who 
has  lost  his  good  name  is  a  pauper  even  if  he  dwells  in  a  palace. 


MONEY   AND   MORALS.  109 

The  positive  commercial  value  of  integrity  to  win  and  to 
hold  customers  may  be  illustrated  by  an  incident  of  the  fur 
trade,  of  which  duplicates  might  be  given  from  every  other 
trade.  Indians  can  be  made  treacherous,  but  they  can  be 
honest,  and  who  shall  say  how  the  dishonesty  of  others  has  led 
to  their  treachery  ?  They  know  when  they  are  cheated,  as  our 
Government  has  found  to  its  cost.  An  old  trader,  who  had 
established  himself  at  what  happened  to  be  a  favorable  locality 
among  the  northern  Indians,  tells  a  good  story  of  his  first 
trials  with  his  red  customers.  Other  traders  had  located  in 
that  same  place  before,  but  had  not  remained  long.  The 
Indians,  who  evidently  wanted  goods,  and  had  money  and  furs, 
flocked  about  the  store  of  the  new  trader,  and  examined  his 
wares,  but  offered  to  buy  nothing.  Finally  their  chief,  with  a 
large  number  of  his  tribe  visited  him.  "  How  do,  John  ?" 
said  the  chief,  "  show  me  goods.  Ah  !  I  take  that  blanket 
for  me  and  that  calico  for  squaw — three  otter  skins  for  blanket 
and  one  for  calico.  Ugh  !  pay  you  hy'm  by  to-morrow." 
He  received  his  goods  and  left.  On  the  next  day  he  returned 
with  a  large  part  of  his  band,  his  blanket  well  stuffed  with  skins 
of  various  kinds.  "  Now,  John,  I  pay."  And  with  this  he 
drew  an  otter-skin  from  his  blanket  and  laid  it  on  the  counter. 
Then  he  drew  a  second,  a  third,  a  fourth.  A  moment's  hesi- 
tation, as  though  calculating,  and  he  drew  out  a  fifth  skin,  a 
very  rich  and  rare  one,  and  passed  it  over.  "  That's  right, 
John."  The  trader  instantly  pushed  back  the  last  skin,  say- 
ing, "  You  owe  me  but  four.  I  only  want  my  just  dues." 
The  chief  refused  to  take  it,  and  they  passed  it  back  and  forth 
several  times,  each  one  asserting  that  it  belonged  to  the  other. 
At  length  the  dusky  chieftain  appeared  satisfied.  He  gave  the 
trader  a  scrutinizing  look,  and  then  put  the  skin  back  into  the 
blanket.  Then  he  stepped  to  the  door,  and  gave  a  yell,  and 
cried  to  his  followers  :  "  Come  !  Come  and  trade  with  the 
paleface  John.  He  no  cheat  Indian.  His  heart  big  !"  Then, 
turning  to  the  trader,  he  said,  "  Supposing  you  take  last  skin 
—I  tell  my  people  no  trade  with  you.  We  drive  off  others  ; 


110;  SUCCESSFUL-  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

but  now  you  be  Indians'  friend,  and  we  be  yours."  Before 
dark  the  trader  was  waist  deep  in  skins  and  loaded  down  with 
cash.  He  found  that  honesty  had  a  commercial  value  with 
those  Indians.  '  *  The  lip  of  truth  shall  be  established  forever  : 
but  a  lying  tongue  is  but  for  a  moment." 

Before  the  era  of  steam,  men  used  to  tow  their  boats  wearily 
up  the  lower  Ohio,  or  the  Mississippi,  with  a  long  line.  At 
niafht  it  was  not  always  safe  for  them  to  fasten  their  boats  on 

O  J 

the  bank  while  they  slept,  because  there  was  danger  from  the 
wash  of  the  underflowing  current  that  they  would  find  them- 
selves drifting  and  pulling  a  tree  after  them.  Therefore  they 
sought  out  well  planted,  solid,  enduring  trees,  and  tied  to  them, 
and  the  phrase  became  popular,  "That  man  will  do  to  tie  to." 
That  sort  of  men  are  sometimes  found  outside  the  church,  men 
who  were  trained  by  Christian  parents,  but  they  are  chiefly 
seen  among  the  Christian  "  trees  of  righteousness"  along  the 
river  of  life.  "  The  great  want  of  this  age  is  men.  Men  who 
are  not  for  sale.  Men  who  are  honest,  sound  from  centre  to 
circumference,  true  to  the  heart's  core.  Men  who  will  con- 
demn wrong  in  a  friend  or  foe,  in  themselves  as  well  as 
others.  Men  whose  consciences  are  as  steady  as  the  needle  to 
the  pole.  Men  who  will  stand  for  the  right  if  the  heavens 
totter  and  the  earth  reel.  Men  who  can  tell  the  truth,  and 
look  the  world  and  the  devil  right  in  the  eye.  Men  that 
neither  brag  nor  run.  Men  that  neither  flag  nor  flinch.  Men 
who  have  courage  without  shouting  to  it.  Men  in  whom  the 
current  of  everlasting  life  runs  still,  deep,  and  strong.  Men 
•who  do  not  cry  nor  cause  their  voices  to  be  heard  on  the  streets, 
but  who  will  not  fail  nor  be  discouraged  till  judgment  be  set  in 
the  earth.  Men  who  know  their  message,  and  tell  it.  Men 
who  know  their  places,  and  fill  them.  Men  who  know  their 
own  business.  Men  who  will  not  lie.  Men  who  are  not  too 
lazy  to  work,  nor  too  proud  to  be  poor.  Men  who  are  willing 
to  eat  what  they  have  earned,  and  wear  what  they  have  paid 
for.  Those  are  the  men  to  move  the  world." 

In  proportion  as  men  are  like  Christ,  the   industrious  car- 


MONET   AND   MORALS.  Ill 

penter  and  the  generous  philanthropist,  will  they  meet  that 
want. 

I  believe  religion  helps  a  man  in  business  also  by  direct 
blessings  from  God — not  that  Job's  "  miserable  comforters" 
were  right  in  their  theory  that  adversity  is  the  outward  sign  of 
sin,  and  prosperity  of  goodness.  If  a  good  man's  corn  always 
prospered  and  the  fields  of  his  wicked  neighbor  were  as  regu- 
larly blighted,  religion  would  be  overrun  with  that  sort  of  bum- 
mers that  always  join  the  victorious  party  to  get  the  spoils. 
The  fact  that  some  Christian  principles  seem  to  be  inconvenient 
in  business  life,  and  that  they  do  not  directly  and  always  turn 
to  gold,  keeps  off  these  insincere  camp-followers,  who  are  too 
shallow  to  see  that  nevertheless  the  path  of  the  just  is  the  path 
to  success.  Most  of  the  suffering  poor  are  the  victims  of  vice. 
Most  of  the  well-to-do  are  those  who  have  been  in  a  large  de- 
gree loyal  to  the  laws  of  God.* 

Some  years  ago,  a  country  preacher  who  had  been  appointed 
chaplain  of  the  prison  at  Sing  Sing,  clumsily  began  his  work 
by  patting  a  prisoner  on  the  back  and  saying,  **  Do  you  love 
the  Lord  ?"  The  convict  replied  sharply,  "  What  do  you  take 
me  for  ?  If  I  had  loved  the  Lord  I  shouldn't  be  here."  Most 
of  those  in  the  almshouses  could  say  the  same.  Those  who 
love  the  Lord  do  not  dwell  in  prisons  or  often  in  poorhouses, 
but  mostly  in  comfortable  homes.  In  some  way  they  get  a 
hundredfold  in  this  life,  either  of  land  or  houses  or  children  or 
influence  or  joy,  and  in  the  world  to  come  life  everlasting. 

*  Prov.  10  :  3  ;  11  : 28,  31  ;  12  :  21  ;  13  :  6,  21  ;  14  : 11,  22. 


XII. 

THE   BUSINESS   MEN   OF  THE   BIBLE. 

This  book  of  the  law  shall  not  depart  out  of  thy  month  ;  but  thou 
shalt  meditate  therein  day  and  night,  that  thou  mayest  observe  to  do 
according  to  all  that  is  written  therein  :  for  then  thou  shalt  make  thy 
way  prosperous,  and  then  thou  shalt  have  good  success. — JOSHUA 
1  :8. 

RELIGION  is  especially  an  aid  to  success  because  the  Bible  is 
full  of  helpful  hints  to  the  man  of  business.  All  through  its 
pages  we  see  Religion  walking  in  the  market-place  as  the  guide 
and  helper  of  busy  men.  Business  success  and  failure  is  one  of 
its  chief  topics. 

At  the  very  outset  the  Bible  shows  that  Adam,  the  first 
farmer,  failed  because  he  had  too  much  devil  and  too  little 
religion  in  his  business. 

The  secret  of  Abraham's  success  as  an  honest  emigrant  is 
seen  to  be  his  integrity  and  avoidance  of  bad  company,  which 
last,  together  with  a  passion  for  fine  real  estate,  made  his 
nephew,  "  the  Hon.  Mr.  Lot,  of  Sodom,"  a  bankrupt.  Lot 
allowed  financial  attractions  to  settle  him  in  a  bad  neighbor- 
hood, and  for  a  fine  piece  of  land  mortgaged  the  morals  of  his 
family,  and  lost  both  at  last.  "  Abraham,"  it  is  said,  "  was  a 
gentleman,  but  Jacob  was  a  Jew."  The  latter  made  money  by 
imitations,  by  false  pretences,  by  a  "  corner"  in  pottage  on 
Esau,  and  by  tricks  in  stock-raising  ;  but  he  found  as  little 
comfort  in  his  ill-gotten  gains  as  his  successors  of  to-day. 
Like  some  of  the  latter,  he  was  continually  afraid  that  some  of 
those  whom  he  had  cheated  would  kill  him. 

The  Bible  points  us  also  to  the  bad  bargain  of  Joseph's 


THE   BUSINESS   MEN   OF  THE   BIBLE.  113 

brethren  in  selling  their  brother  to  the  Ishmaelites,  and  them- 
selves to  future  remorse  for  fifteen  dollars.  Twenty  years 
afterward  they  bitterly  recalled  that  transaction  in  prison,  and 
said,  "  We  are  verily  guilty  concerning  our  brother."  No 
bargain  is  a  good  one  that  is  not  pleasant  to  remember. 
"  Though  wickedness  be  sweet  in  his  mouth,  it  is  the  gall  of 
asps  within  him."*  Many  a  modern  Joseph  has  been  sold 
by  his  brethren  through  some  of  the  advertisements  in  the 
papers  that  offer  to  fools  a  fortune  for  a  few  days  or  dollars. 
In  Joseph  as  a  man  we  see  a  model  commissioner  of  agricult- 
ure, laying  up  store  for  unrainy  days. 

In  Exodus  we  are  shown  the  wickedness  of  holding  souls  as 
property. 

The  Bible  books  from  Joshua  to  Job  are  a  series  of  sermons 
on  the  secrets  of  success  and  failure,  illustrated  by  the  brief 
biographies  of  fifty  rulers,  all  negatively  or  positively  enforcing 
that  text  which  is  the  key  verse  of  all  Old  Testament  history  : 
"  As  long  as  he  sought  the  Lord,  God  made  him  to  prosper." 

In  the  heart  of  the  Bible  lies  the  business  man's  own  book — 
Proverbs.  There  is  hardly  a  maxim  of  business  success  that 
was  not  suggested  by  it.  The  father  who  has  in  mind  only  the 
worldly  success  of  his  sons  and  daughters,  and  the  merchant 
who  wishes  only  to  give  the  secret  of  temporal  prosperity  to 
his  clerks  and  employes,  cannot  do  a  more  appropriate  thing 
than  to  give  each  of  them  the  Book  of  Proverbs  for  their  guid- 
ance— a  pocket  edition  for  constant  use.f  Where  can  you  find 
better  mottoes  for  shops  and  stores  and  farms  than  are  given  in 
its  pages  ?  ' '  The  hand  of  the  diligent  shall  bear  rule. "  ' '  The 
hand  of  the  diligent  maketh  rich."  "The  thoughts  of  the 
diligent  tend  only  to  plenteousness. "  "  Be  thou  diligent  to 
know  the  state  of  thy  flocks,  and  look  well  to  thy  herds." 
"He  that  tilleth  his  land  shall  be  satisfied  with  bread." 


*  Bead  Job  20  : 12,  etc.  ;  Prov.  20  : 17. 

f  American  Bible  Society,  Bible  House,  N.  Y.,  issue  sucK  an  edition 
at  4  cents  each. 


114  SUCCESSFUL   MEX   OF   TO-BAT. 

4 '  Seest  thou  a  man  diligent  in  his  business  ?  He  shall  stand 
before  kings  :  he  shall  not  stand  before  mean  men." 

The  sluggard,  the  idler,  and  the  spendthrift  find  no  hiding- 
place  amid  its  chapters.  "He  becometh  poor  that  dealeth 
with  a  slack  hand."  **  As  vinegar  to  the  teeth,  and  as  smoke 
to  the  eyes,  so  is  the  sluggard  to  them  that  send  him."  Like 
the  sharp  clear  ring  of  the  rising  bell  sounds  that  verse  :  "  Love 
not  sleep  lest  thou  come  to  povert}r  :  open  thine  eyes  and  thou 
shalt  be  satisfied  with  bread."*  This  Book  of  Proverbs,  as  a 
guide  to  industry,  surpasses  all  other  collections  of  maxims. 

The  Book  of  Ecclesiastes  shows  us  how  to  prevent  secular 
success  from  producing  moral  failure,  as  it  did  in  the  case  of 
Solomon.  Several  of  my  correspondents  enumerate  among  the 
causes  of  failure,  "  success."  It  takes  a  strong  man  to  bear 
success.  Weak  men  are  led  by  it  to  vices  which  destroy  prop- 
erty or  character,  or  both.  The  keeper  of  a  toll-gate  near  a 
cemetery  says  that  business  is  now  "  very  good"  with  him, 
and  that  funerals  are  much  more  numerous  in  times  of  national 
prosperity  than  in  "  hard  times."  As  failure  often  leads  to 
success,  success  often  leads  to  failure.  Hon.  William  E. 
Dodge,  in  the  recent  quarter-centennial  of  the  Fulton  Street 
Prayer-meeting,  said  that  the  business  men  of  New  York  were 
"  really  in  more  danger  inthe  present  year  of  unparalleled  pros- 
perity (1882),  when  the  crops  of  the  world  are  larger  than  they 
have  ever  been  before,  than  they  were  in  the  hard  times  of 
1857,  in  which  the  prayer-meeting  originated."  "  Jeshurun 
waxed  fat  and  kicked. "  "  Before  I  was  afflicted,  I  went 
astray." 

"  Hear  the  conclusion  of  the  whole  matter,"  says  Ecclesi- 
astes (that  is,  Solomon,  who  had  enjoyed  all  forms  of  worldly 
success  and  found  them  insufficient  for  the  aching  void  in  his 
heart  that  was  made  for  God's  Spirit  to  fill)  :  "  Fear  God  and 
keep  his  commandments,  for  this  is  the  whole  duty  of  man." 

*  Bead  Prov.  10  : 4,  5  ;  11  :  20,  29  ;  12  : 11,  22,  24  ;  13  : 4,  18  ; 
20  :  4,  13-16  ;  21  :  6  ;  22  :  4,  29  ;  27  :  23  ;  29  :  19. 


THE    BUSINESS    MEtf    OF   THE    BIBLE.  115 

The  prophetic  books  have  much  to  say  to  the  robber-nations 
of  those  times  about  the  curse  of  stolen  lands. 

Then  in  the  Gospels,  more  than  half  of  Christ's  parables  are 
about  business  life,  and  have  their  first  and  direct  application 
there.  Matthew  is  the  book  of  God's  reckonings  with  men, 
written  by  a  converted  tax  collector.  It  is  a  sermon  on  the 
text,  "  The  righteous  shall  be  recompensed  in  the  earth  :  much 
more  the  wicked  and  the  sinner."  (Romans  is  also  a  book  of 
reckoning — God's  reckoning  with  us  in  grace.)  Of  nothing 
did  Christ  have  more  to  say,  outside  of  personal  salvation, 
than  of  the  right  use  of  money.  He  uttered  his  woes  of  warn. 
ing  against  the  hypocritical  scribes  and  Pharisees  of  the  temple, 
but  the  only  ones  he  whipped  out  of  it,  as  too  wicked  to  endure, 
were  the  traders. 

The  Book  of  Acts  is  full  of  applications  of  God's  law  to 
money  matters — the  generous  giving  of  the  early  Church  to 
their  poor  until  there  was  none  among  them  that  lacked  ;  the 
indirect  suicide  of  Ananias  and  his  wife,  who  poisoned  them- 
selves with  "  the  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil  ;"  Paul  making  tents 
and  sermons  at  the  same  time,  and  acting  as  the  heroic  An- 
thony Comstock  of  his  age  in  exposing  and  suppressing  frauds, 
such  as  the  sorcerer  of  Cyprus,  the  sorcerer  of  Philippi,  the 
idol-makers  and  corrupting  publishers  of  Ephesus.  Paul's 
pathway  as  a  conqueror  was  marked  by  bonfires  of  bad  books, 
and  mobs  indignant  that  the  hope  of  corrupt  gains  was  gone. 

The  Epistles,  including  Revelation,  are  also  largely  devoted 
to  displacing  in  human  hearts  the  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil,  by 
planting  there  the  love  of  man,  which  is  the  root  of  all  kinds 
of  goodness.  That  man  then  is  a  true  successor  to  the  apostles 
who  seeks  to  import  more  of  religious  principles  into  modern 
business  life. 


XIII. 

"CAN  BUSINESS  BE  CONDUCTED   SUCCESSFULLY 
ON   STRICT  CHRISTIAN   PRINCIPLES?" 

It  has  been  the  plan  of  my  life  to  follow  my  convictions  at  what- 
ever personal  cost  to  myself. — GABFTELD. 

THAT  an  importation  of  principles  into  trade  is  greatly 
needed  is  significantly  shown  by  the  fact  that  the  Congrega- 
tional Club  of  New  York  recently  and  seriously  discussed  the 
question,  "  Can  business  be  conducted  successfully  on  strict 
Christian  principles  ?"  The  question  reminds  me  of  a  young 
man  who  proposed  to  conduct  his  business  in  that  way  in  New 
York  City.  He  was  assured  by  an  old  merchant  that  there  was 
no  city  in  the  land  where  he  would  have  so  little  competition 
in  that  line.  The  conclusion  of  the  debate  was  that  it  was 
practicable  to  conduct  business  on  Christian  principles,  but 
very  hard  work.* 

*  The  true  story  of  long-ago  experience  in  a  high-toned  Boston 
house  might  have  been  told,  but  was  not,  to  show  how  one  youth 
early  learned  the  art  of  doing  a  successful  business  on  principles — 
of  a  certain  sort.  The  head  of  the  house  was  a  strenuous  defender 
and  shining  example  of  the  piety  that  keeps  up  one's  lofty  self- 
respect.  He  held  that  a  man  is  not  going  to  be  saved  by  what  he  be- 
lieves or  experiences,  but  by  the  honest  and  honorable  things  he  does. 
Of  all  things  he  scouted  lying.  Even  the  second  in  command  was 
one  day  reprimanded  before  all  hands,  and  nearly  lost  his  place,  for 
swerving  a  little  from  the  straight  line  to  effect  a  sale.  Not  long 
after,  a  job  lot  of  heavy,  durable  unbleached  shirtings  was  found  at 
a  very  low  price,  and  an  unusually  large  stock  was  laid  in.  They 
were  offered  at  eight  cents  a  yard,  and  were  worth  more  money.  The 
good  Bostonians  read  the  advertisements,  looked  at  the  open  bales 


PRINCIPLES  IN"   BUSINESS.  117 


t  have  found  not  a  few  men  who  frankly  declared  it  was 
harder  work  than  they  were  willing  to  uridertake.  A  member 
of  a  Baptist  church  in  Miami  County,  Itid.,  while  giving  his 
experience  not  long  ago,  said  :  "  Brethren,  I've  been  a  tryin' 
this  nigh  on  to  forty  years  to  serve  the  Lord  and  get  rich  both 
at  onct,  and  I  tell  yer  it's  mighty  hard  sleddin'." 

An  English  correspondent  states  that  a  paper  was  read  before 
the  Barnet  Y.  M,  C.  A.  on  "  Conventional  Falsehoods,"  which 
led  to  a  discussion  as  to  whether,  under  any  circumstances, 
evasion,  deceit,  or  absolute  untruth,  were  morally  defensible. 
Eight  voted  on  the  affirmative  and  six  on  the  negative  side, 
while  a  large  number  abstained  from  voting.  This,  if  correct, 
would  indicate  that  the  Barnet  Association  should  for  the  pres- 
ent eliminate  the  word  "  Christian"  from  its  title. 

A  young  man  who  works  in  a  large  mill  said  to  a  Christian 
worker  who  had  spoken  to  him  about  religion,  "  That's  all 
very  well,  but  in  the  factories  you  could  not  be  a  Christian." 
Others  have  expressed  the  opinion  that  one  cannot  be  a  Chris- 
tian in  the  fruit  business,  in  the  livery  business,  in  the  profes- 
sion of  law,  etc.  I  don't  believe  that  is  true  in  any  legitimate 
business.  If  a  man  is  in  any  other  kind,  such  as  trading  in 

filling  the  floor,  but  didn't  buy.  Scarcely  a  piece  was  sold,  and  the 
boys  said,  "  The  old  man  is  stuck  on  that  lot."  High  tides  at  that 
time  had  flooded  many  cellars  in  the  lower  parts  of  the  city  —  where 
this  store  was  not  —  and  *'  damaged  goods"  were  plenty  at  low  prices. 
A  few  days  later,  the  high-toned  old  man  sent  two  of  the  boys  to  buy 
a  washtub,  had  them  take  it  to  the  cellar,  fill  it  with  water,  pass  the 
pieces  of  shirting  slowly  through  the  bath,  and  pile  them  again  on 
the  bale  cloths  on  the  salesroom  floor.  Next  morning's  papers  flamed 
with  advertisements  of  extra  heavy  brown  shirting,  "  wet  in  the  cel- 
lar," to  be  sold  by  the  piece,  uncut,  at  (the  Yankee)  sixpence  a  yard  — 
eight  and  one  third  cents.  And  how  they  did  sell  !  The  boys  were 
kept  busy  below  in  supplying  the  salesmen,  till  not  a  piece  was  left. 
The  goods  "  wet  in  the  cellar"  brought  a  handsome  advance  on  the 
price  asked  for  them  when  dry  ;  the  buyers  got  good  bargains,  and 
the  seller  (who  scorned  to  tell  a  lie)  made  a  satisfactory  profit  by  only 
acting  one.  Wasn't  that  a  successful  business  done  on  —  princi- 
-A.  H.  C. 


118  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

vices  by  a  saloon  or  a  sporting  paper,  he  had  butter  promote 
himself  into  the  position  of  an  honest  scavenger,  with  a  dollar 
a  day  of  clean  money,  than  get  ten  times  as  much  as  the  price 
of  blood. 

Not  only  in  the  Bible,  but  in  many  such  disgraceful  careers 
as  Tweed's  and  James  Fisk's,  God  has  written,  "Riches  of 
wickedness  profit  nothing. "  Such  gains  bring  pains.  Even  if 
they  make  rich,  they  add  sorrow  with  it.  A  blood  stain  is  )n 
all  the  gold  won  by  selling  alcoholic  or  literary  incitements  to 
vice  and  crime.  A  curse  is  on  the  bottles  and  sensational  story 
papers  of  the  devil's  shop-windows,  and  also  on  selling  cigar- 
ettes to  growing  boys.  Whether  it  is  right  or  not  to  sell  a 
thing  as  injurious  as  tobacco  to  anybody,  it  is  certainly  wicked 
to  sell  it  to  boys,  and  every  tobacco  dealer  who  does  this  may 
fairly  be  counted  with  Joseph's  brethren  and  Pharaoh  and 
Herod  among  boy-destroyers,  who  slaughter  the  innocents. 

No  true  man  will  engage  in  any  business  on  which  he  cannot 
ask  God's  blessing  that  it  may  be  a  blessing  to  the  community. 
Mr.  Moody,  speaking  in  a  Scottish  church,  whose  steeple  had 
been  given  by  a  rich  distiller,  denounced  the  whole  liquor  busi- 
ness ;  whereupon  the  distiller  wrote  him  a  note  asking  his 
objections.  The  reply  was  characteristic  of  the  common -sense 
evangelist  :  "  We  are  commanded,  whatever  we  do,  whether 
we  eat  or  drink,  to  do  it  to  the  glory  of  God.  If  you  can 
distil  a  barrel  of  whiskey  and  then  kneel  over  it  and  say,  *  Oh 
God,  bless  this  whiskey,  and  send  it  forth  to  be  a  blessing  to 
thy  name,'  all  right." 

But  in  every  proper  business  a  man  can  be  a  true  Christian 
and  succeed.  Sin  is  not  the  winning  horse  in  the  long  run, 
even  in  the  livery  business.  I  know  of  livery  men  who  keep 
the  Sabbath  and  also  keep  their  hearts  from  animalism,  and  yet 
prosper  even  in  money  matters.  As  of  old,  they  put  "  holiness 
on  the  bells  of  horses,"  perhaps  they  may  be  able,  in  the  good 
time  coming,  as  Kentucky's  Buford  sought  to  do,  to  sanctify 
horse-racing,  after  divorcing  it  from  gambling. 

No  fruit  dealer  can  make  me  believe  that  honest  measure 


CHRISTIAN"   PRINCIPLES   IN   BUSINESS. 


and  fruit  as  good  at  the  bottom  as  the  top  is  not  the  best  policy 
in  the  end.  Even  a  lawyer  may  refuse  to  aid  knaves  to  escape 
from  justice  and  not  die  in  the  poorhouse. 

In  all  these  cases  it  does  not  lessen  the  guilt  of  dishonesty  or 
disobedience  that  one's  name  is  not  on  the  church  book.  God 
expects  every  man  to  do  his  duty.  Church  membership  does 
not  one  whit  increase  his  duties,  but  helps  him  to  perform  them. 
Alas  that  so  many  in  the  Church  and  out  of  it  do  many  things 
of  whose  Tightness  they  are  in  doubt  !  When  there  is  suspense 
of  conscience  there  ought  to  be  suspense  of  action.  God  and 
conscience  should  be  given  the  benefit  of  the  doubt.  Men  talk 
of  being  "  average  honest,"  which  means  dishonest.  They 
speak  of  doing  "  about  right."  About  right  is  all  wrong. 
Try  it  in  a  sum  of  long  division  by  making  a  mistake  on  the 
first  figure  of  the  quotient. 

.  "  Please,  father,  is  it  wrong  to  go  pleasuring  on  the  Lord's 
day  ?  My  teacher  says  it  is." 

"  Why,  child,  perhaps  it  is  not  exactly  right." 

11  Then  it  is  wrong,  isn't  it,  father  ?" 

"  Oh,  I  don't  know  that,  if  it  is  only  once  in  a  while." 

"  Father,  you  know  how  fond  I  am  of  sums  ?" 

"  Yes,  John,  I'm  glad  you  are.  I  want  you  to  do  them 
well,  and  be  quick  and  clever  at  figures  ;  but  why  do  you  talk 
of  sums  just  now  ?" 

"  Because,  father,  if  there  is  one  little  figure  put  wrong  in  a 
sum  it  makes  it  all  wrong,  however  large  the  amount  is." 

"  To  be  Hire,  child,  it  does." 

"  Then,  father,  don't  you  think  that  if  God's  day  is  put 
wrong  now  and  then,  it  makes  it  all  wrong  ?" 

11  Put  wrong,  child—  how  ?" 

"  I  mean,  father,  put  to  a  wrong  use." 

"  That  brings  it  very  close,"  said  the  father,  as  if  speaking 
to  himself,  and  then  he  added  :  "  John,  it  is  wrong  to  break 
God's  holy  Sabbath.  He  has  forbidden  it,  and  your  teacher 
was  quite  right.  We  will  hereafter  '  remember  the  Sabbath 
day  to  keep  it  holy.'  " 


120  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF   TO-DAT. 

There  are  no  evangelists  who  could  do  so  much  for  a  reviva. 
as  business  men  can  do  by  courageous  loyalty  to  religion  in 
business  matters. 

It  was  proposed  to  the  Duke  of  Wellington  to  purchase  a 
certain  farm  in  the  neighborhood  of  his  estate  at  Strath  ft*  el  d- 
saye.  Ee  assented.  When  the  transfer  was  completed,  his 
steward,  who  had  made  the  purchase,  congratulated  him  upon 
having  made  a  great  bargain,  as  the  seller  was  in  difficulties, 
and  forced  to  part  with  his  farm.  "  What  do  you  mean  by  a 
bargain  ?"  said  the  duke.  The  steward  replied,  "  It  was  valued 
at  £5500,  and  we  got  it  for  £4000. "  "  In  that  case, "  said  the 
duke,  "  you  will  please  to  carry  the  extra  £1500  to  the  late 
owner,  and  never  talk  to  me  of  cheap  land  again. ' ' 

An  unfair  bargain  and  a  Bible  don't  mate  well  as  a  span. 
You  can't  drive  both  along  the  same  road.  Christians  whose 
religion  is  not  shown  by  their  Monday  bargains  as  well  as  their 
Sunday  songs  are  counterfeits.  "  Religion  is  good  for  nothing 
one  day  in  the  week  unless  it  is  good  for  all  the  seven." 
Christianity  is  not  a  Sabbatic  spring  that  flows  only  one  seventh 
of  the  time. 

God  doesn't  split  up  our  lives  into  slices  and  say,  if  In  this 
church  building  you  must  obey  God,  but  in  yonder  store  it 
doesn't  matter  if  the  devil  is  king.  On  this  Sunday  you  must 
mind  the  Bible,  but  to-morrow  you  may  sell  stale  poultry  as 
fresh,  and  pile  inferior  fruit  upon  the  false  bottoms  of  your 
fruit  baskets,  or  help  knaves  out  of  jail  by  law  quibbles.  By 
and  by  if  you  join  the  church,  all  these  will  be  wrong.  Such 
men  will  not  do  to  tie  to.  You  might  as  well  anchor  a  ship  to 
a  floating  log. 

But  there  are  thousands  of  true  Christian  men  in  our  busy 
marts,  who  substitute  trust  in  truth  for  tricks  of  trade.  They 
do  not,  like  Esau,  profane  their  manhood,  and  sell  their  birth- 
right of  a  good  name  for  the  pottage  of  immediate  gratification. 
They  are  longer  in  winning  money  than  some  of  the  godless 
Esaus  of  to-day,  but  they  also  keep  it  longer. 


CHRISTIAN  PRINCIPLES      a'   BUSINESS.  121 

Religion  does  get  into  business  and  let  its  light  shine  there  in 
cases  not  a  few. 

One  of  those  incidents  on  which  Diogenes  would  have  de- 
lighted to  turn  his  lighted  lantern  happened  recently  at  Milford, 
Mass.  Mr.  Hiram  A.  Goodrich,  a  leading  grocer,  who  was 
selling  out  his  stock  preparatory  to  leaving  town,  in  looking 
over  his  old  accounts  found  that  when  he  bought  his  stand  of 
Mr.  Samuel  Rockwood,  a  mistake  of  forty-six  dollars  had  been 
made  in  his  favor  in  carrying  out  the  price  of  some  flour.  The 
mistake  was  made  fifteen  years  ago  by  the  man  who  took  an 
inventory  of  the  stock,  but  Mr.  Goodrich  figured  up  the  inter- 
est, and  found  that  with  the  original  amount  he  owed  Mr. 
Rockwood  about  one  hundred  and  fifty  dollars.  This  was  ten- 
dered him,  but  Mr.  Rockwood  would  accept  only  the  principal. 
Such  a  case  of  honesty  should  be  put  on  record  by  people  who 
are  continually  lamenting  the  deterioration  of  morals.  The 
world  is  not  growing  worse,  though  it  is.  far  from  the  best. 
The  former  times  were  not  better  than  these,  but  "  there  are  a 
good  many  hard  days'  work  between  this  and  the  millennium." 

The  Plymouth  Congregational  Church,  of  Cleveland,  Ohio, 
recently  built  themselves  a  beautiful  church  edifice.  The  con- 
tractor drew  the  money  due  for  work  done,  and  instead  of 
paying  his  workmen,  left  for  parts  unknown,  carrying  the  funds 
with  him.  These  workmen  had  not  a  shadow  of  a  claim  upon 
the  trustees,  and  expected  nothing  from  them.  But  thirteen 
hundred  dollars  were  due  them  from  the  absconded  contractor, 
and  they  needed  the  money.  The  pastor,  Rev.  Mr.  Collins, 
said  to  his  people  :  "  True,  we  do  not  owe  these  men  a 
farthing  ;  still,  let  us  make  an  effort  to  give  them  what  their 
dishonest  employer  owes  them,  and  never  let  it  be  said  that 
unrequited  toil  went  into  the  rearing  of  this  temple  of  the  Most 
High. ' '  And  all  the  people  said,  Amen.  The  laborers  went 
that  night  to  their  homes  rejoicing,  carrying  their  lost  and 
found  pieces  of  silver  with  them. 

The  genuineness  of  the  burglar's  conversion,  who  placed  his 
entire  "  kit"  in  Jerry  McAuley's  hands,  at  his  Cremorne  Mis- 


122  SUCCESSFUL   MEtf   OF   TO-DAY. 

sion  recently,  is  sufficiently  well  attested,  and  is  matched  by 
the  painter  who  declared  in  a  prayer-meeting  that  he  knew  he 
was  converted,  "  for  now,"  ho  said,  "  I  always  paint  the  tops 
of  the  doors  ;"  and  also  by  the  house- servant,  whose  conversion 
made  her  sweep  under  the  mats.  One  day,  when  the  subject 
under  consideration  in  a  prayer-meeting  was  the  "  Practical 
effect  of  religion  in  daily  life,"  a  man  got  up  and  said,  "  I 
can't  say  much  about  it,  but  I  know  that  since  I  was  converted 
I  put  better  work  into  my  shoes  than  I  did  before.7' 

During  the  Moody  meetings  in  Boston  a  lady  said  to  a 
Boston  storekeeper,  "  Is  this  real  English  lace  ?"  "  It  was, 
madam,  previous  to  the  tabernacle  meetings,  but  it  isn't  now  : 
it's  simply  imitation."  An  English  woman  came  into  one  of 
Mr.  Moody 's  meetings,  and  four  or  five  bottles  of  wine  came 
up  before  her  soul.  She  said,  "  I  stole  them  from  my  master, 
and  he  is  dead."  Mr.  Moody  said,  "Has  he  no  heirs?" 
"  Yes,  he  has  a  son."  She  was  advised  to  give  the  value  of 
the  wine  to  his  son.  She  took  a  $25  note  to  him,  and  insisted 
on  his  taking  it.  Then  she  came  back  telling  what  light  and 
praise  filled  her  heart.  Another  man  gave  about  $1500  resti- 
tution-money before  he  could  receive  Christ. 

Beethoven,  when  he  had  completed  one  of  his  grand  musical 
compositions,  was  accustomed  to  test  it  on  an  old  harpsichord, 
lest  a  more  perfect  instrument  might  flatter  it  or  hide  its 
defects.  The  old  harpsichord  on  which  to  test  our  religious 
life,  our  new  song,  is  the  market-place.  A  man,  like  muddy 
water,  may  be  very  peaceful  when  he  is  quietly  "  settled," — 
not  shaken  up  by  temptation.  That  proves  nothing  about  his 
religious  life.  But  if  a  man's  patience  and  peace  and  princi- 
ples can  stand  the  test  of  business  his  religion  is  genuine,  and 

will 

"  Make  life,  death,  and  the  vast  forever, 
One  grand,  sweet  song." 

"  It  is  laughable  to  see  one  hunting  high  and  low  for  his 
spectacles  when  they  have  been  only  shoved  up  over  his  fore- 
head. But  it  is  not  laughable  to  see  Christians  hunting  for 


CHRISTIAN   PRINCIPLES  IN   BUSINESS.  123 

•what  they  call  opportunities  to  honor  God,  while  overlooking 
such  opportunities  which  they  carry  with  them  wherever  they 
go.  A  slovenly  carpenter  was  once  heard  at  a  weekly  prayer- 
meeting  to  pray  with  great  fervency  for  the  spread  of  Christ's 
cause — a  cause  which  he  disgraced  and  hindered  in  his  sphere 
every  time  he  stood  at  his  work-bench.  When  he  ended  his 
prayer,  a  hearty  '  Amen  !'  came  from  a  servant  who  put  her 
mistress  out  of  temper  a  hundred  times  a  day  by  her  careless- 
ness. A  clerk  also  was  there,  who,  although  he  taught  a  class  in 
the  mission-school  on  Sundays,  was  always  late  at  his  employer's 
store  week-days.  He  whispered  '  Amen  !  '  too — and  meant  it, 
so  far  as  he  knew  himself.  A  lady  hearer,  as  she  listened, 
resolved  to  join  the  church  missionary  society,  and  then  wen* 
home  and  found  unreasonable  fault  with  her  cook.  And  others 
also  felt  warmed  to  do  something  for  Christ,  who  never  seemed 
to  have  thought  that  religion,  like  charity,  begins  at  home. 
The  mechanic  who  is  powerful  in  class-meeting  and  weak  at 
his  trade  is  no  credit  to  the  cause  he  professes.  The  servant 
who  drops  tears  feelingly  at  religious  services  and  drops  dishes 
unfeelingly  in  the  kitchen  has  her  tenderness  altogether  too 
much  on  one  side.  And  it  is  a  poor  kind  of  religion  which 
seeks  opportunities  to  set  others  straight,  but  overlooks  its  own 
crookedness. ' '  * 

"  I  once  read  a  story  f  of  a  holy  man,  some  say  it  was  St. 
Anthony,  which  had  been  a  long  season  in  the  wilderness, 
eating  nor  drinking  nothing  but  bread  and  water  ;  at  length 
he  thought  himself  so  holy  that  there  should  be  nobody  like 
unto  him.  Therefore  he  desired  of  God  to  know  who  should 
be  his  fellow  in  heaven.  God  made  him  answer,  and  com- 
manded him  to  go  to  Alexandria  ;  there  he  should  find  a  cob- 
bler which  should  be  his  fellow  in  heaven.  So  he  went  thither 
and  sought  him  out,  and  fell  acquainted  with  him,  and  tarried 
with  him  three  or  four  days  to  see  his  conversation  [i.e.,  in  the 

*  Sunday-School  Times. 

f  Latimer,  fifth  sermon  on  Lord's  Prayer,  1552. 


124  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

sense  of  Heb.  12  :  7,  '  manner  of  life  '].  In  the  morning  his 
wife  and  he  [the  cobbler]  prayed  together,  then  they  went  to 
their  business,  he  in  his  shop,  and  she  about  her  housewifery. 
At  dinner-time  they  had  bread  and  cheese,  wherewith  they  were 
well  content,  and  took  it  thankfully.  Their  children  were  well 
taught  to  feare  God,  and  to  say  their  pater  noster  [the  Lord's 
Prayer],  and  the  Creede,  and  the  Ten  Commandments,  and  so 
he  spent  his  time  in  doing  his  duty  truely.  I  warrent  you 
[this  is  a  side-winder  of  practical  application]  he  did  not  so 
many  false  stitches  as  cobblers  doe  now  adayes.  St.  Anthony 
perceiving  that,  came  to  the  knowledge  of  himself,  and  layed 
away  all  pride  and  presumption."  The  most  devout  of  medi- 
tative Christians  may  find  his  peer  in  piety  in  the  busy  marts 
of  trade.  No  Christian  should  for  a  moment  fall  into  the 
monkish  mistake  that  he  must  retreat  into  the  devil's  market- 
place of  idleness  before  his  piety  can  be  fully  developed. 

Devotion  and  action  God  has  joined  together,  and  let  no  man 
put  them  asunder.  In  Christ's  miracles  this  wedding  of  faith 
and  works  is  often  pictured.  It  is  said  of  Peter's  mother-in- 
law,  "The  fever  left  her,  and  she  ministered  unto  them." 
After  healing,  housekeeping  (Mark  1  :  31).  So  when  Jairus's 
daughter  was  raised  to  life  Christ  "  commanded  that  some- 
thing should  be  given  her  to  eat"  (Mark  6  :  43).* 

Many  would  sympathize  with  the  remark  of  the  Duke  of 
Alva  when  he  was  asked  by  the  King  of  France  if  he  had  ob- 
served the  eclipses  that  had  just  been  occurring.  "  No,  / 
have  so  much  business  on  earth  that  I  have  no  time  to  look  up  to 
heaven."  Both  may  be  united,  the  working  and  the  uplooking, 
as  in  the  case  of  Moses,  who  was  a  Gladstone  in  the  multiplicity  of 
his  work — the  oversight  of  the  temporal  and  spiritual  interests  of 
millions  of  people.  The  blending  of  his  earthly  and  heavenly 
business  are  thus  described  :  "  He  endured  as  seeing  the  invis- 
ible." 

We  all  have  time  for  whatever  we  feel  must  be  done.  The 
time  is  here.  The  only  question  is,  What  shall  we  do  with  it  ? 

*  See  also  Acts  9  :  34. 


CHRISTIAN"   PRINCIPLES   IN    BUSINESS.  125 

Some  want  all  the  time  for  themselves.  Some  share  it  with 
their  beloved  ones.  Some  devote  a  portion  of  it  to  the  needy. 
"  Blessed  are  they,"  says  Thomas  &  Kempis,  "  who  are  glad  to 
have  time  to  spare  for  God,  and  who  shake  off  all  worldly 
hindrances." 

As  the  water  drops  of  the  storm-clouds  are  transfigured  by 
the  sunlight  into  rainbows,  so  the  lowliest  work  is  transfigured 
by  thoughts  of  God  shining  through  it.  So  it  was  with  the 
old  negro  washerwoman  who  sang,  as  she  climbed  the  stairs 
wearily  at  night  after  her  hardest  day,  "  One  more  day's  work 
for  Jesus."  So  it  was  with  the  Christian  child  in  the  mission 
Sunday-school,  who  was  asked,  "  What  are  you  doing  for 
Jesus?"  and  replied,  "I  scrubs."  It  is  especially  to  hired 
laborers  that  it  is  said,  **  Whatsoever  ye  do,  work  heartily  as 
unto  the  Lord  and  not  unto  men,  for  ye  serve  the  Lord  Christ." 

With  Carlyle,  work,  whether  of  devising  brain  or  helping 
hand,  is  the  escape  from  evil  ;  with  Ruskin  it  is  the  doorway 
of  good.  There  was  sound  philosophy  and  true  religion  in  the 
negro's  rebuke  to  his  lazy  associate,  **  Do  you  expect  to  go  to 
Heaven?  Then  take  hold  and  lift."  There  is  small  chance 
of  a  lazy  or  idle  man  entering  there. 

If  you  will  go  to  the  banks  of  a  little  stream  and  watch  the 
flies  that  come  to  bathe  in  it,  you  will  notice  that  they  plunge 
their  bodies  in  the  water  but  keep  their  wings  above  it,  and 
after  swimming  about  a  little  while  they  fly  away  with  their 
wings  unwet  through  the  sunny  air.  So  when  we  are  immersed 
in  the  cares  of  the  world,  let  us  keep  the  wings  of  our  faith  and 
love  above  them,  that  with  these  unclogged  we  may  often  fly 
in  thought  to  heaven. 

Surely  Christ  is  fitted  to  be  the  business  man's  helper  and 
adviser.  Note  well  the  morning  when  the  unsuccessful  fisher- 
man took  his  advice  as  to  casting  their  nets  and  came  to  the 
shore  with  an  unusual  catch  of  fish.  Through  the  power  of 
prayer  the  same  Christ  can  help  us  in  business  to-day. 


XIV. 

COUNTERFEIT  SUCCESS. 

Tis  only  noble  to  be  good. — TENNYSON. 

"  To  win  and  to  wear, 

To  have  and  to  hold, 
Is  the  burden  of  dream  and  of  prayer, 
The  hope  of  the  young 
And  the  hope  of  the  old, 
The  prize  of  the  strong  and  the  fair. 
All  dream  of  some  guerdon  life's  labor  to  bless, 
All  winning  that  guerdon  have  named  it — SUCCESS."* 

BUT  it  is  often  a  false  name.  The  accomplishment  of  one's 
purpose  is  not  necessarily  success.  It  is  sometimes  the  worst 
kind  of  failure,  as  in  the  case  of  Ahab,  who  obtained  the  real 
estate  of  Naboth  which  he  wished  for,  but  at  the  cost  of  his 
honor.  Many  another  has  won  a  selfish  gratification  of  appe- 
tite or  covetousness  by  sacrificing  his  purity  or  generosity. 
Achieving  one's  wish,  with  more  loss  than  profit,  is  surely  not 
success.  If  wishes  were  horses,  beggars  would  often  ride  to 
ruin.  "  Success  to  humbug,"  says  a  French  proverb.  But 
humbug  is  always  failure.  The  moral  loss  exceeds  the  money 
gain,  and  "  leaves  one  poor  indeed." 

On  the  other  hand,  to  fail  of  one's  aim  may  be  a  prelude  of 
true  success,  as  when  Peter  Cooper  lost  ten  dollars  in  gambling 
and  was  forever  cured  of  it  at  the  very  beginning  of  his  career, 
and  as  in  the  case  of  Judge  Tourgee,  the  author  of  u  A  Fool's 
Errand,"  whose  failure  as  a  legal  reconstructionist  led  to  his 

*  Kev.  D.  H.  Ela,  D.D. 


COUNTERFEIT    SUCCESS.  127 

success  as  a  reconstruction  author.  In  a  letter  to  me  he 
attributes  his  success,  "  such  as  it  is,"  chiefly  to  "  an  aptitude 
for  folly. ' '  But  it  takes  something  more  than  folly  to  organize 
defeat  into  victory,  to  build  success  upon  failure,  as  he  has 
done. 

Men  worship  success,  but  oftener  in  false  images  of  it  than 
in  the  reality.  True  success  has  been  as  much  misrepresented 
as  the  true  God.  The  word  success  is  as  often  misapplied  as 
liberty.  Oh,  Success,  how  many  crimes  have  been  committed 
in  thy  name  !  A  man  obtains  thousands  or  millions  of  dollars 
by  legal  or  illegal  thieving,  and  society,  instead  of  sending  him 
to  prison,  receives  him  into  its  parlors.  Men  bow  low  when 
he  passes,  as  in  the  fable  the  people  bowed  to  the  golden  idols 
that  were  strapped  on  the  back  of  a  donkey,  who  was  ass 
enough  to  swell  with  pride  in  the  thought  that  all  this  rever- 
ence was  for  him. 

Mere  wealth  is  no  more  success  than  fools'  gold  is  real  gold. 
Collaterals  do  not  take  the  place  of  character.  Many  successful 
men,  like  Agassiz,  "  have  no  time  to  make  money."  "  Wis- 
dom is  better  than  rubies."  *  It  is  not  success  for  a  man  to 
turn  his  heart  into  a  money-vault  by  driving  out  all  his  nobler 
sentiments.  It  is  not  success  to  win  wealth  by  such  means  that 
the  winner  is  always  fearing  the  pistol-shot  of  revenge.  For 
one  to  be  the  richest  man  in  a  State,  but  so  bankrupt  of  refine- 
ment that  he  finds  his  pleasures  in  beastly  walking-matches  and 
horse-races,  no  more  constitutes  success  than  a  jewel  in  a 
swine's  snout.  Indeed,  if  we  believed  in  Darwinism  it  would 
not  be  hard  to  trace  the  pedigree  of  those  who  keep*  for  them- 
selves millions  more  of  money  than  they  can  use,  even  on  the 
costliest  food  and  clothes — millions  more  than  they  can  safely 
or  justly  leave  to  their  children,  while  thousands  are  suffering 
with  hunger  and  cold  and  ignorance  and  sin  all  over  the  world, 
for  lack  of  that  very  money. 

These  richest  men  will  not  even  cease  to  grasp  for  more. 
*  The  sea  cries  for  water."  Just  here  we  see  the  failure  of 
*  Bead  Prov.  3  : 13-14  ;  8  : 11,  18-21. 


128  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

many  rich  men,  who  in  seeking  money  as  a  good  servant  have 
really  won  a  despotic  taskmaster.  Instead  of  having  money, 
money  has  them.  Wealth  has  proved  to  them  a  man-stealer. 
It  has  kidnapped  their  manhood.  Slavery  is  not  success. 
There  is  need  of  Patience  on  the  monuments  that  glorify  Dives. 
There  is  no  virtue  in  being  a  Lazarus.  Poverty  is  not  a  pass- 
port to  heaven,  nor  wealth  the  key  to  hell.  Christ's  parable 
means  that  it  is  better  to  be  one  of  God's  rich  poor  than  one 
of  the  devil's  poor  rich.  But  it  is  better  still  to  be  a  good 
Dives,  rich  for  both  worlds,  like  Abraham  and  Job.  But 
"  riches  without  wisdom  are  food  without  salt  !"  The  man 
who  is  so  mismanaging  his  life  that  when  he  passes  into  the 
other  world,  where  all  save  "  a  handbreadth"  of  his  existence  is 
to  be  spent;  he  will  leave  all  he  has  and  enter  there  a  bankrupt, 
with  no  treasure  laid  up  in  heaven,  is  not  a  success,  even  though 
he  may  be  a  millionaire. 

I  make  no  crusade  against  wealth  in  itself.  The  lever  that 
was  to  move  the  world  we  find  to  be  a  lever  of  gold,  and  the 
place  which  Archimedes  could  not  find  on  which  to  place  it  is 
the  Rock  of  Ages.  We  would  not,  then,  condemn  wealth,  but 
convert  it  to  the  truth.  We  would  not  destroy  it,  but  employ 
it  for  humanity.  Christ  did  not  condemn  those  who  sold  oxen 
and  sheep  and  doves  because  they  were  merchants,  but  because 
they  made  his  Father's  house  "  a  house  of  merchandise"  and 
"  a  den  of  thieves."  Consecrated  talents  of  gold  as  well  as  of 
genius  are  blessed  by  the  Saviour's  words  and  win  the  applause 
of  Heaven's"  Well  done." 

But  the  man  who  puts  his  trust  in  gold  and  deposits  his 
heart  in  the  bank,  and  thinks  money  means  success,  is  like  the 
starving  traveller  in  the  desert,  who,  seeing  a  bag  in  the  dis- 
tance, found  in  it,  instead  of  food  which  he  sought,  nothing  but 
gold,  and  flung  it  from  him  in  disappointment,  and  died  for 
want  of  something  that  could  save  his  life.  The  soul  will 
starve  if  gold  alone  administers  to  its  needs. 

Better  to  be  a  man  than  merely  a  millionaire.  Better  to 
have  a  head  and  heart  than  merely  house  and  lands.  Success 


COUNTERFEIT    SUCCESS.  129 

in  the  sense  of  satisfaction  is  not  found  even  in  palaces  of 
wealth,  if  Christ  does  not  dwell  with  us  there. 

Worldly  men  are  only  satisfied  with  a  little  more  than  they 
have.  "  He  that  loveth  silver  shall  not  be  satisfied  with 
silver."  Columbus  and  his  followers,  when  they  had  landed 
on  this  continent,  at  once  asked  the  Indians  for  the  land  of 
gold,  of  which  they  long  had  dreamed.  They  were  pointed 
over  the  mountains,  and  when  they  had  crossed  them  they 
were  pointed  beyond  yet  other  mountains,  and  so  day  after  day 
they  climbed  the  hills  in  vain.  "  So,"  says  Irving,  u  the  land 
of  gold  is  ever  beyond  the  mountains." 

As  young  men  especially,  we  are  apt  to  think  that  the  cata- 
logue of  happiness  and  success  is  all  written  on  the  back  of 
bank-bills,  and  some  are  willing  to  coin  their  hearts  to  increase 
their  wealth.  You  look  upon  the  rich  man  as  the  incarnation 
of  satisfaction,  the  embodiment  of  success,  but  happiness  is 
the  gift  of  God  and  cannot  be  purchased  with  money.  The 
man  who  dies  in  the  midst  of  bank-books,  unless  his  treasure 
and  his  heart  are  in  Heaven,  really  dies  poor,  for  he  goes  to 
the  other  world  bankrupt,  taking  nothing  with  him,  not  even  a 
hope.  Men  whisper,  "How  much  did  he  leave?"  One 
answers,  "  A.  million."  Another  says,  "He  left  two  mill- 
ions." But  God  and  angels  answer  more  truly,  "  He  left  all 
he  had." 

Wealth  consecrated  to  the  fatherhood  of  God  and  the 
brotherhood  of  man  is  twice  blest  ;  the  poor  rise  up  to  call  it 
blessed,  and  it  has  the  blessing  of  the  Lord,  which  maketh  rich 
and  addeth  no  sorrow  with  it ;  but  gold  without  God,  and  bank- 
notes which  have  not  beneath  their  rustle  the  throbbing  of  a 
Christian  heart,  are  like  a  millstone  hanged  about  the  soul  to 
sink  it  in  the  depths  of  despair. 

That  man  who  walks  with  a  merry  song  to  his  work  in  the 
morning  with  his  dinner-pail  in  his  hand,  and  walks  back  at 
night  when  his  work  is  done  with  happy  heart  and  an  approv- 
ing conscience,  has  attained  success  more  certainly  than  the 
man  who  rides  in  his  carriage  to  his  bank  and  comes  back 


130  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

again  with  a  discontented  heart  and  a  reproving  conscience. 
He  who  loses  his  character  in  winning  money  has  lost  more 
than  he  has  gained,  and  is  therefore  not  a  success. 

Another  man  steals  an  office,  or  receives  one  that  was  stolen 
for  him,  trying  to  forget  that  the  partaker  is  as  bad  as  the 
thief.  The  robes  of  office  cover  his  wrong,  and  people  bow 
before  his  political  power.  They  mistake  Satanic  smartness 
for  success.  Well  said  a  prominent  Englishman,  who  was 
travelling  in  our  country,  "  That  word  *  smart '  will  break 
America's  back  yet."  It  will,  unless  we  break  its  back.  The 
man  who  wins  office  by  sacrificing  honor  is  no  more  successful 
than  Gehazi,  who  won  money  by  the  loss  of  health  and  truth. 

"  The  rank  is  but  the  guinea  stamp, 
The  man's  a  man  for  a'  that." 

That  man  is  not  a  success  who  gives  the  gold  for  the  stamp. 

Nor  is  the  achievement  of  great  reputation  in  the  world  of 
art  and  literature  a  proof  of  success.  I  am  reminded  of  snake- 
worship  when  I  read  of  the  attentions  paid  to  such  crawling 
things  as  Walt  Whitman  and  Oscar  Wilde,  who  dip  their  pens 
in  the  sewers  of  vice  and  gild  obscenity  with  rhythm.  No 
degree  of  skill  or  fame  can  make  such  men  a  success.  Their 
losses  are  more  than  their  gains. 

How  often  fame  is  bought  too  dear,  as  in  the  case  of  the 
warrior  who  fights  not  for  native  land  but  for  personal  glory, 
as  described  by  Richelieu  : 

"  From  rank  showers  of  blood 
And  the  red  light  of  blazing  roofs 
You  build  the  rainbow,  Glory, 
And  to  shuddering  conscience  cry, 
Lo  !  the  bridge  to  heaven  ! " 

That  reminds  us  of  the  other  lines  : 

"  The  drying  of  a  single  tear  has  more 
Of  honest  fame  than  shedding  seas  of  gore." 

Parhassius,  the  painter,  racking  a  slave  to  death  in  order 
that  he  may  get  a  true  model  of  death-agony  for  the  picture 


COUNTERFEIT    SUCCESS.  131 

which  he  expects  will  make  him  famous,  is  himself  an  abject 
slave  to  fame  as  he  cries, 

"I'd  rack  thee  though  I  knew  a  thousand  lives  were  perishing  in 

thine  ; 
What  were  ten  thousand  to  a  fame  like  mine  ?" 

Such  fame  is  not  success,  but  only  a  leprous  Naaman  covered 
with  robes  of  distinction.  No  one  is  successful  who  wins  fame 
by  paying  more  than  it  is  worth.  Such  an  one  is  a  loser,  and 
therefore  a  failure. 

Those  who  are  dazzled  with  the  seeming  success  of  godless 
men,  who  have  wealth  or  office  or  literary  eminence,  would  do 
well  to  listen  to  their  wails  over  their  bankruptcy  of  heart 
and  soul,  as  found  so  abundantly  in  the  pages  of  biography. 

David  Hume,  the  infidel  historian,  in  a  work  on  "  Human 
Nature,"  says  :  "  I  seem  affrighted  and  confounded  with  the 
solitude  in  which  I  am  placed  by  my  philosophy.  When  I 
look  abroad,  on  every  side  I  see  dispute,  contradiction,  and 
detraction.  When  I  turn  my  eye  inward,  I  find  nothing  but 
doubt  and  ignorance.  Where  am  I  ?  From  what  cause  do  I 
derive  my  existence  ?  To  what  condition  shall  I  return  ?  I 
am  confounded  with  these  questions.  I  begin  to  fancy  myself 
in  a  most  deplorable  condition — environed  with  the  deepest 
darkness  on  every  side." 

Voltaire,  another  infidel  who  drank  deeply  from  the  cup  of 
literary  fame,  said  :  "  The  world  abounds  with  wonders,  and 
also  with  victims.  In  man  is  more  wretchedness  than  in  all 
other  animals  put  together.  Man  loves  life,  yet  he  knows  he 
must  die  ;  spends  his  existence  in  diffusing  the  miseries  which 
he  has  suffered — cutting  the  throats  of  his  fellow-creatures  for 
pay,  cheating  and  being  cheated.  The  bulk  of  mankind  are 
nothing  more  than  a  crowd  of  wretches,  equally  criminal, 
equally  unfortunate.  I  wish  I  had  never  been  born." 

Boswell  gives  us  these  dying  messages  of  Dr.  Johnson  : 
"  The  approach  of  death  is  very  dreadful.  I  am  afraid  to 
think  of  that  which  I  know  I  cannot  avoid.  It  is  vain  to  look 


132  SUCCESSFUL  MEtf   OF  TO-DAY. 

round  and  round  for  that  help  which  cannot  be  had.  Yet  we 
hope  and  fancy  that  he  who  has  lived  to-day  may  live  to- 
morrow. ' ' 

The  infidel  Buckingham,  in  a  letter  to  Barrow  from  his 
death-bed,  did  not  talk  like  a  successful  man,  although  he  had 
wealth  and  rank  and  fame  :  "  The  world  and  I  may  shake 
hands,  for  I  dare  affirm  that  we  are  heartily  weary  of  each 
other.  What  a  prodigal  I  have  been  of  the  most  valuable  of 
all  possessions — time  !  I  have  squandered  it  away  with  a  per- 
suasion it  was  lasting,  and  now  when  a  few  days  would  be 
worth  a  hecatomb  of  worlds,  I  cannot  flatter  myself  with  a 
prospect  of  a  half-dozen  hours." 

The  accomplished  Chesterfield,  counting  over  his  gains  and 
losses  in  the  darkness  of  approaching  death,  did  not  find  him- 
self successful  :  **  I  have  been  under  the  powers  and  influences 
of  all  the  pleasures  of  this  world,  and  consequently  know  their 
futility,  and  do  not  regret  their  loss.  I  appraise  them  at  their 
real  value,  which,  in  truth,  is  very  low.  I  look  upon  all  that 
is  past  as  one  of  those  romantic  dreams  that  opium  commonly 
occasions,  and  I  do  by  no  means  desire  to  repeat  the  nauseous 
dose  for  the  sake  of  the  fugitive  dream. ' ' 

And  who  has  not  read  the  laments  of  the  bankrupt  heart  of 
Byron,  who,  despite  his  rank  and  wealth  and  fame,  was  a 
failure : 

"  Nay,  for  myself,  so  dark  my  fate 

Through  every  turn  of  life  hath  been, 
Man  and  the  world  so  much  I  hate, 
I  care  not  when  I  quit  the  scene. 

"  My  days  are  in  the  yellow  leaf, 

The  flowers  and  fruit  of  love  are  gone — 
The  worm,  the  canker,  and  the  grief 
Are  mine  alone." 

Theodore  Hook  made  all  nations  laugh  while  he  was  living, 
and  yet  on  a  certain  day,  when  in  the  midst  of  his  revelry  he 
caught  a  glimpse  of  his  own  face  and  his  own  apparel  in  the 
mirror,  he  said,  **  That  is  true.  I  look  just  as  I  am — lost, 


COUNTERFEIT    SUCCESS.  133 

body,  mind,  soul  and  estate — lost."  And  so  it  was  with 
Shenstone.  He  sat  down  amid  all  the  beauty  of  his  garden 
and  wrung  his  hands  and  said,  "  I  have  lost  my  way  to  happi- 
ness ;  I  am  frantic  ;  I  hate  everything  ;  I  hate  myself  as  a  mad- 
man ought  to." 

Madame  Maintenon,  in  a  letter  to  a  friend,  writes  as  follows  : 
"  Why  cannot  I  give  you  my  experience  ?  Why  cannot  I 
make  you  sensible  of  that  uneasiness  which  preys  upon  the 
great,  and  the  difficulty  they  labor  under  to  employ  their 
time  ?  Do  you  not  see  that  I  am  dying  with  melancholy,  in 
the  height  of  fortune  which  once  my  imagination  could  scarce 
have  conceived  ?  I  have  been  young  and  beautiful,  have  had  a 
high  relish  of  pleasures,  and  have  been  the  universal  object  of 
love.  In  a  more  advanced  age  I  spent  years  in  intellectual 
pleasures.  I  have  at  least  risen  to  favor,  but  I  protest  that 
every  one  of  these  conditions  leaves  in  the  mind  a  dismal 
vacuity. ' ' 

And  the  famous  Lacordaire,  of  Paris,  said,  at  last  :  ' '  I  am 
feeble,  discouraged — solitary  in  the  midst  of  800,000  men.  I 
feel  little  attachment  to  existence  ;  my  imagination  has  taken 
the  color  out  of  it.  I  am  satiated  of  all,  without  having  tasted 
anything.  If  you  only  knew  how  sad  I  am  becoming  !  I  love 
Sorrow,  and  live  much  with  her.  They  speak  to  me  of  literary 
fame  and  public  employment.  I  have  occasionally  certain 
desires  that  way  ;  but,  frankly,  I  despise  fame,  and  can 
scarcely  conceive  why  people  should  take  so  much  trouble  to 
run  after  such  a  little  fool.  Where  is  the  soul  that  shall  under- 
stand mine  ?' ' 

The  trouble  in  all  these  sad  cases  was  that  mere  wealth  or 
office  or  fame  were  mistaken  for  success,  and  found  at  last 
to  be  counterfeits.  Winning  these  at  the  cost  of  purity  and 
faith,  more  was  lost  than  gained.  Real  success  was  sacrificed 
to  win  its  imitation.  The  dying  moments  of  these  famous 
people  were  thus  filled  with  chagrin  of  having  cheated  them- 
selves by  their  bad  bargains,  paying  faith  for  fame,  religion  for 
riches,  honor  for  office.  All  these  things  are  desirable  as 


134  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

elements  of  power,  but  it  is  not  success  to  buy  them  thus  too 
dear. 

"  The  world  has  nothing  left  to  give, 

It  has  no  new,  no  pure  delight ; 
Oh,  try  the  life  which  Christians  live  ; 
Thou  wouldst  be  saved— why  not  to-night?" 

As  men  turn  from  idols  to  the  living  God,  let  us  turn  from 
these  false  images  of  success  to  true  ones. 


THE  rich  man's  wealth  is  his  strong  city. — SOLOMON. 

The  world  is  his  who  has  money  to  go  over  it. — EMEBSON. 
Eeason's  whole  pleasure,  all  the  joys  of  sense, 
Lie  in  three  words — health,  peace,  and  competence. — POPE. 

He  that  wants  money,  means,  and  content,  is  without  three  good 
friends. —SHAKESPEARE. 

The  great  satisfaction  coming  from  wealth  is  a  consciousness  of 
power.  Besides  this,  it  opens  up  the  way  to  a  higher  delight,  meet- 
ing one's  desires  for  education  and  art.  The  crowning  joy  of  wealth 
is  in  the  service  of  society  and  of  mankind.  "  It  is  more  blessed  to 
give  than  to  receive." — K.  HEBEK  NEWTON. 

The  best  way  to  settle  the  quarrel  between  capital  and  labor  is  by 
allopathic  doses  of  Peter-Cooperism. — TALMAGE. 

They  should  own  who  can  administer  ;  not  they  who  hoard  and 
conceal.  He  is  rich  in  whom  the  people  are  rich,  and  he  is  poor  in 
whom  the  people  are  poor  :  and  how  to  give  all  access  to  the  master- 
pieces of  art  and  nature  is  the  problem  of  civilization. — EMEKSON. 

The  great  privilege  of  possession  is  the  right  to  bestow.— GEOEGE 
MACDONALD. 

Be  charitable  before  wealth  make  thee  covetous,  and  lose  not  the 
glory  of  the  mite.  If  riches  increase,  let  thy  mind  hold  pace  with 
them  ;  and  think  it  not  enough  to  be  liberal,  but  munificent.  Diffuse 
thy  beneficence  early  and  while  thy  treasures  call  thee  master  ;  there 
may  be  an  atropos  of  thy  fortunes  before  that  of  thy  life,  and  thy 
wealth  be  cut  off  before  that  hour  when  all  men  shall  be  poor.— SIB 
THOMAS  BKOWNE. 

"  Thou  hadst  an  industry  in  doing  good, 
Restless  as  his  who  sweats  and  toils  for  food." — COWPEB. 

I  do  not  think  that  human  nature  lays  one  under  a  higher  stress  of 
temptation  through  riches  than  it  does  through  poverty.  I  know 
that  riches  make  men  proud.  Is  there  no  pride  among  the  poor  ?  I 
know  that  rich  men  are  self-seeking  and  vain.  Are  poor  people  free 
from  this  ?  I  know  that  rich  men  may  be  envious  of  those  in  their 
company,  and  have  ambition  to  excel  each  other  in  mere  outward 
display  of  riches  and  amassing  the  riches  themselves.  Is  there  no 
avaricious  desire  among  the  poor  ?  no  discontent  ?  no  coarse,  envious 
squabbles  ?  I  tell  you  it  is  not  riches,  and  it  is  not  poverty — it  is 
human  nature  that  lies  back  of  both  of  them  that  is  dangerous,  and 
that  is  the  trouble.— HENRY  WARD  BEECHEB. 


XV. 

WHAT   SUCCESSFUL   MEN  SAY   OF  SUCCESS. 

WHAT  is  success  ? 

Christ  beautifully  defines  it  in  commending  Mary  of  Beth- 
any :  "She  hath  done  what  she  could."  Success  is  coming  up 
to  the  level  of  our  best.  It  is  making  the  most  of  our  abilities 
and  opportunities.  It  is  the  best  I  am  blossoming  into  the  best 
I  can  do — the  firstlings  of  the  heart  becoming  the  firstlings  of 
the  hand. 

To  measure  success  by  comparing  ourselves  among  ourselves 
is  not  wise.  The  frog  is  not  called  to  swell  himself  into  an  ox, 
nor  to  do  the  work  of  an  ox.  A  preacher's  success  is  not  to 
be  measured  in  comparison  with  other  men  of  differing  age  and 
talents,  but  in  comparison  with  his  own  capacity.  We  should 
ask,  What  is  the  level  of  my  best,  and  how  near  do  I  come  to 
it  ?  So,  in  every  department  of  life,  we  are  to  ask,  not,  How 
does  that  man  compare  with  the  greatest  man  in  his  line  ?  but, 
How  near  does  he  come  to  making  the  most  of  himself  and  of 
his  opportunities  ?  Each  man  should  ask  himself,  How  does 
what  I  am  compare  with  what  I  might  be  ? 

Success  is  doing  your  best  every  day.  One  is  not  to  excuse 
himself  because  he  has  but  one  talent.  To  double  that  is  as 
surely  success  in  the  God's-eye  view  as  for  another,  whose  nat- 
ural abilities  and  opportunities  are  five  times  as  good,  to  carry 
his  talents  up  to  ten. 

How  few  come  up  to  the  level  of  their  best,  and  thus  win  true 
success  !  * '  The  land  of  promise, ' '  as  deeded  by  God  to  Abra- 
ham and  Moses,  was  three  times  as  large  as  the  land  possessed 
by  the  Israelites  in  the  days  of  Joshua.  They  did  not  by  two 


138  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

thirds  come  up  to  the  level  of  their  best.  So,  what  you  might 
be  is  three  times  as  large  as  what  you  are.  In  Solomon's  day 
all  the  land  of  promise  was  possessed.  In  the  *  *  greater  than 
Solomon"  we  see  a  man  in  whose  life  what  was  corresponded 
to  what  should  be.  In  our  lives,  by  His  divine  help,  what  is 
may  at  least  closely  approach  what  might  be. 

When  Francis  Joseph  Campbell,  a  blind  man,  becomes  a  dis- 
tinguished musician  and  mathematician  and  a  great  philanthro- 
pist, we  get  a  hint  of  what  it  means  to  make  the  most  of  our 
capacities  and  opportunities.  Many  another  blind  person 
would  be  content  to  be  a  helpless  object  of  charity  for  life. 
When  he  was  complimented  as  "  a  very  clever  man,"  his  noble 
wife  replied,  "  No,  he  is  not  cleverer  than  other  men.  But 
the  difference  between  him  and  all  other  people  I  know  is  this 
— he  makes  use  of  all  his  opportunities.''1  In  most  of  our  lives 
much  of  our  possibilities  is  yet  to  be  possessed.  Leaving  the 
sad  "  it  might  have  been,"  let  us  reach  forward  to  what  may  be 
and  what  should  be  in  our  lives.  If  God  calls  you  to  preach, 
do  your  best.  That  is  success,  even  if  you  are  never  heard  of 
outside  of  a  little  country  parish.  If  you  are  called  as  God's 
stewards  to  acquire  money -power  instead  of  mental  power,  to 
use  for  the  good  of  humanity,  do  your  best  in  that. 

"  Make  all  you  can  honestly  ; 
Save  all  you  can  prudently  ; 
Give  all  you  can  possibly."* 

"  The  good,  like  clouds,  receive  only  to  give  away." 
"  The  riches  of  the  good  are  like  streams  turaed  into  a  rice- 
field." 

If  God  has  called  you  to  make  money,  your  success  is  not  to 
be  measured  by  the  richest  good  man  you  know,  but  by  your 
own  opportunities.  Doing  your  best  is  success.  So,  in  public 
service,  a  good  mayor  is  more  successful  than  a  bad  President. 
Every  officer  who  does  his  best  is  a  success.  The  quiet  mother 
who  is  never  heard  of  outside  of  her  home  and  Sunday-school 

*  Mottoes  of  John  Wesley. 


WHAT   SUCCESSFUL   MEtf   SAY   OF   SUCCESS.  139 

claas  may  be  on  God's  list  of  successes,  although  everything  in 
her  realm  seems  to  consist  of  trifles.  "  Little  things  are  little 
things,  but  to  do  little  things  faithfully  is  a  great  thing. "  Only 
eternity  can  tell  how  true  is  the  success,  how  far-reaching  the 
result  of  doing  our  best,  even  in  the  quietest  spheres  of  life. 
Such  successes  will  be  inscribed  on  God's  roll  of  honor  if  not 
on  earth's  scroll  of  fame. 

But  how  can  this  true  success  be  obtained  ?  What  are  the 
secrets  of  success  that  mature  and  prominent  men  offer,  from 
their  own  history  and  observation,  to  young  men,  to  save  them 
the  necessity  of  learning  them  all  in  the  hard  school  of  experi- 
ence ? 

Dr.  Dexter,  chief  editor  of  the  Congregationalist,  gives  these 
three  secrets  of  success  :  "  First,  piety,  to  get  all  and  keep  all 
in  position  ;  second,  patience,  to  master  all  details  ;  third, 
perseverance,  to  carry  all  through." 

Ex-Governor  Dingley,  of  Maine,  also  gives  three  essential 
prerequisites  to  success  :  ' '  First,  character  ;  second,  industry  ; 
third,  perseverance." 

A  prominent  Brooklyn  manufacturer  gives  these  five  condi- 
tions of  success  :  First,  sterling  integrity  as  God's  steward  ; 
second,  strict  attention  to  business  ;  third,  do  what  you  under- 
take to  do  ;  fourth,  punctuality  ;  fifth,  secrecy.  (Don't  tell 
anybody  what  you  are  going  to  do  until  you  have  done  it — or 
even  then)." 

The  secrets  of  success  as  given  by  a  successful  New  York 
publisher  are  :  "  Sterling  integrity  in  all  things ;  rigorous 
adherence  to  every  promise  ;  deal  with  every  person  as  if  you 
were  certain  you  would  meet  him  again,  even  though  he  is  a 
passing  stranger  ;  be  temperate  in  body  ;  broaden  your  mind 
and  become  pure  in  heart." 

A  Chicago  editor  gives  the  following  helps  to  success  : 
"  Early  to  bed,  early  to  rise  ;  plain  food  ;  good  conscience  ; 
good  humor  ;  honest  work  ;  self-help  ;  and  prayer." 

A  leather  dealer  in  California,  whose  firm  has  achieved  a 
large  success,  attributes  jto  to  these  five  principles  :  "  First,  per- 


140  SUCCESSFUL   MEK    OF   TO-DAY. 

sonal  integrity  of  its  founders  and  managers  ;  second,  prompt 
payment  of  all  bills  before  noon  of  collection  day  ;  third,  the 
use  of  courtesy  and  tact  in  dealing  with  all  men  ;  fourth,  close 
attention  to  business  and  employment  of  the  best  agents  ;  fifth, 
constantly  maintained  reliability  of  goods." 

The  manager  of  a  large  manufactory  in  Connecticut  gives  the 
following  secrets  of  success  :  "  An  unbending  purpose  to  suc- 
ceed ;  strict  integrity  and  conscientious  fairness  in  all  business 
relations  ;  firmness  and  affability  ;  systematic  methods ;  an 
underlying  motive  to  please  God. ' '  One  of  the  leading  whole- 
sale merchants  of  Chicago  gives  the  secrets  of  success  concisely 
as,  "  Self-reliance  and  moral  responsibility  to  a  higher  power." 

John  Wanamaker's  answer  gives  four  steps  to  success  : 
**  Close  application  ;  integrity  ;  attention  to  details  ;*  discreet 
advertising. ' '  (It  has  been  well  said  that  a  little  advertising, 
like  a  little  learning,  is  a  dangerous  thing.) 

President  Andrew  D.  White,  of  Cornell,  also  gives  four 
conditions  of  success  :  "  First,  soundness  of  mind  and  heart  ; 
second,  clear  judgment  ;  third,  fair  knowledge  of  men  ;  fourth, 
great  devotion  to  some  one  purpose  or  study,  but  with  breadth 
of  view." 

Dr.  J.  H.  Vincent's  secret  of  success  is  given  in  a  single 
sentence  :  "  An  entire  surrender  of  impulse  and  inclination  to 
the  demands  of  duty,  as  expressed  and  made  possible  in  the 
life  of  Christ." 

Hon.  William  E.  Dodge,  in  a  pamphlet  of  personal  reminis- 
cences sent  to  me  with  his  reply,  names  open,  frank,  upright 
dealing  with  customers  as  the  way  to  secure  their  confidence 
and  trade,  and  through  that  success.  This  theory  he  illustrates 
by  the  following  incident  :  "  I  will  venture  to  relate  an  inci- 
dent, as  I  think  it  may  be  of  service  to  some  who  are  looking 
forward  to  mercantile  life.  A  few  weeks  after  we  started,  and 
when  our  stock  of  goods  was  small,  three  young  men  stepped 
into  the  store,  each  having  two  large  tin  trunks  which  he 

*  "  For  want  of  a  nail  the  shoe  was  lost  ;  for  want  of  a  shoe  the 
horse  was  lost." 


C.W  ELIOT  L.L.D.     PREsT.or  HARVARD     o 


COLLEGE    PRESIDENTS. 


WHAT  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   SAY   OF   SUCCESS.  143 

carried  in  his  hands,  aided  by  a  large  strap  over  the  shoulders. 
I  saw  at  once  they  were  Connecticut  peddlers,  for  I  had  often 
dealt  with  such  when  a  clerk.  They  were  attracted  by  some 
article  in  the  window.  After  giving  them  its  price,  and  while 
they  set  down  their  loads  to  rest  and  talk,  I  said  pleasantly,  *  I 
see  you  are,  like  myself,  just  starting  in  business.  Now,  let 
me  make  you  a  proposition  :  there  is  plenty  of  room  in  our 
store  ;  each  of  you  take  one  of  these  pigeon-holes  under  the 
shelves,  put  your  trunks  there  in  place  of  carrying  them  around 
while  you  are  picking  up  your  goods,  and  just  order  all  you 
buy  to  be  sent  here.  We  will  take  charge  of  your  purchases, 
pack  and  ship  them,  and  you  can  come  here  and  examine  your 
bills,  write  letters,  and  do  as  you  like,  whether  you  buy  a  dollar 
of  us  or  not.  I  want  to  make  at  least  a  show  of  doing  busi- 
ness, and  it  will  really  be  an  advantage  to  us  as  well  as  a  con- 
venience to  you.'  They  were  pleased  with  the  offer,  and 
accepted  it  at  once,  and  left  in  search  of  such  things  as  they 
wanted.  My  young  partner  waited  till  they  got  out,  and  then, 
with  considerable  excitement  and  wounded  pride,  said,  *  Well, 
are  those  what  you  call  customers  ?  '  I  said,  *  Yes,  you  know 
that  tall  oaks  from  little  acorns  grow.  We  shall  see  by  and  by 
what  they  will  make. '  Suffice  it  to  say,  that  for  the  six  years 
I  remained  in  the  dry-goods  business,  they  were  among  my 
most  attached  customers." 

A  successful  physician  was  asked  by  an  unsuccessful  one,  who 
had  been  his  equal  as  a  classmate  in  college,  to  explain  th« 
difference  in  their  practice.  He  replied,  "  Look  out  of  my 
office  window  and  notice  the  first  twenty  persons  that  pass  on 
the  street,  and  tell  me  how  many  of  them  you  would  like  to 
have  as  patients.  Would  you  want  that  man  ?  That  woman  ? 
There  are  only  two  in  the  twenty  that  are  '  tony  '  and  '  styl- 
ish '  enough  for  you,  with  your  ideas  of  a  practice  among  *  nice 
people  '  only,  but  I  go  for  the  other  eighteen,  for  the  people. ' ' 

Other  secrets  of  success  are  the  following  :  "  Ambition  to 
excel  in  whatever  I  undertake."  (False  contentment  is  worse 
than  poverty.)  "  A  definite  object  in  life — not  drifting," 


144  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

"  Habits  favorable  to  bodily  health."  "  Plain  living  and  high 
thinking. "  * '  A  good  stomach. "  "  Careful  obedience  to 
orders."  "  Early  responsibility."  (This  last  is  given  as  one 
of  his  own  helps  to  success  by  John  Sherman,  who  at  fifteen 
years  of  age  was  put  in  charge  of  an  engineering  enterprise  in- 
volving an  expense  of  $300,000.)  "  Strict  truthfulness,  with 
religion  as  its  root."  "Carefulness."  "  Honor."  "Con- 
scientiousness." "Good  company."  "A  good  boarding- 
place  and  the  society  of  modest  Christian  young  women  on 
coming  to  the  city."  "  Reliability."  "  Courage,  not  only  to 
say  No,  but  to  surmount  obstacles."  ("  It  takes  a  live  fish  to 
swim  up  stream.")  "  Mastering  all  the  details  of  one's  busi- 
ness." "Concentration  of  one's  whole  attention  and  ability 
on  the  matter  in  hand."  ("  He  who  follows  two  hares  catches 
neither.")  "  Forecast."  "  Win  unlimited  credit,  but  use  it 
in  a  very  limited  way."  "  Have  several  things  ahead  all  the 
while  as  a  stimulus  to  constant  effort,  and  that  you  may  rest  by 
change  of  work." 

One  man  attributes  his  success  to  his  promptness,  to  being 
always  ten  minutes  ahead  at  his  appointments.  (How  would 
that  do  for  the  business  of  religion  also  on  a  Sunday  morning  ?) 

Promptness  in  seizing  opportunities  is  yet  more  important. 
"  The  art  of  getting  rich,"  says  Emerson,  "  consists  not,  in  in- 
dustry, much  less  in  saving,  but  in  a  better  order,  in  timeliness, 
in  being  at  the  right  spot. ' '  Carpe  diem. 

Thirty  years  ago  Mr.  H.,  a  nurseryman  in  New  York  State, 
left  home  for  a  day  or  two.  It  was  rainy  weather,  and  not  the 
season  for  sales,  but  a  customer  arrived  from  a  distance,  tied 
up  his  horse,  and  found  his  way  to  the  kitchen  of  the  farm- 
house, where  two  of  Mr.  H.'s  sons  were  cracking  nuts. 

"Mr.  H.  at  home?" 

"  No,  sir,"  said  the  eldest,  Joe,  hammering  at  a  nut. 

"When  will  he  be  back  ?" 

"  Dunno,  sir.     Mebbe  not  for  a  week." 

The  other  boy,  Jem,  jumped  up  and  followed  the  man  out. 
"  The  men  are  not  here,  but  I  can  show  you  the  stock,"  he 


WHAT   SUCCESSFUL  MEtf   SAY  OF   SUCCESS.  145 

said,  with  such  a  bright,  courteous  manner  that  the  stranger, 
who  was  a  little  irritated,  stopped,  and  followed  him  through 
the  nursery,  examined  the  trees,  and  left  his  order. 

"  You  have  sold  the  largest  bill  that  I  have  had  for  this  sea- 
son, Jem,"  said  his  father,  greatly  pleased,  on  his  return. 

"  I'm  sure,"  said  Joe,  sullenly,  "  I'm  as  willing  to  help  as 
Jerm  if  I'd  thought  in  time." 

/'A  few  years  afterward  these  two  boys  were  left  by  their 
father's  failure  and  death  with  but  two  or  three  hundred  dollars 
each.  Joe  with  them  bought  an  acre  or  two  near  home.  The 
land  was  poor,  the  crops  scanty,  the  market  low.  He  has 
worked  hard  and  faithfully,  but  is  still  a  poor,  discontented 
man.  Jem  bought  an  emigrant's  ticket  to  Colorado,  hired  as 
a  cattle  driver  for  a  couple  of  years,  with  his  wages  bought  land 
at  forty  cents  an  acre,  built  himself  a  house,  and  married.  His 
herds  of  cattle  are  numbered  by  the  tho'usand,  his  land  has 
been  cut  up  for  town  lots,  and  he  is  ranked  as  one  of  the 
wealthiest  men  in  the  State. 

The  difference  between  these  two  brothers,  and  between  the 
successful  and  unsuccessful  generally,  is  the  difference  between 
seizing  or  missing  opportunities. 

' '  Jump  while  the  wave  is  on  the  swell. "  * '  Now  or  never. '  * 
"  No  sooner  said  than  done."  tf  There  is  a  tide  in  the  affairs 
of  men  that  takea  at  the  flood  leads  on  to  fortune."  "  Strike 
while  the  iron's  hot." 

"  He  that  would  not  when  he  may, 
"When  he  would  he  shall  have  nay." 

That  is  true  of  religious  decisions  as  well  as  in  business. 
For  every  department  of  life  we  might  appropriately  adopt  the 
motto  which  Ruskin  has  ever  before  him,  inscribed  on  a  mass- 
ive piece  of  chalcedony  : 


TO-DAY. 


146  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

Temperance  is  recognized  in  a  large  number  of  the  replies  I 
have  received,  as  an  absolute  prerequisite  of  abiding  success. 
The  most  probable  and  scholarly  theory  of  the  origin  of  the 
precious  minerals  is  that  they  were  carried  into  the  crevices  in 
the  rocks  in  solution  by  streams,  and  then  deposited  by  elec- 
tricity passing  through  the  water.  So  a  cold-water  career  de- 
posits gold  and  silver,  while  a  drinking  life  seldom  leaves  any 
gold. 

"  In  a  certain  manufacturing  town  an  employer  one  Saturday 
paid  to  his  workmen  $700  in  crisp  new  bills  that  had  been 
secretly  marked.  On  Monday  $450  of  those  identical  bills 
were  deposited  in  the  bank  by  the  saloon-keepers.  When  the 
fact  was  made  known,  the  workmen  were  so  startled  by  it  that 
they  helped  to  make  the  place  a  no-license  town:  The  times 
would  not  be  so  '  hard  '  for  the  workmen  if  the  saloons  did 
not  take  in  so  much  of  their  wages.  If  they  would  organize  a 
strike  against  the  saloons,  they  would  find  the  result  to  be 
better  than  an  increase  of  wages,  and  to  include  an  increase  of 
savings. ' ' 

"  Sticktoitiveness"  is  often  mentioned  as  one  of  the  most 
essential  conditions  of  success.  "  Good  luck,"  says  Emerson, 
"  is  only  another  name  for  tenacity  of  purpose."  "  Holdfast 
is  a  better  dog  than  Brag."  "  Rome  was  not  built  in  a  day." 
"  Behold  we  count  them  happy  that  endure."-  A  good  begin- 
ning plus  a  good  continuance  makes  a  good  ending. 

Another  essential  to  success  in  business  as  well  as  religion  is 
self-denial.  The  man  who  would  win  must  deny  himself  in 
morning  naps,  in  pleasure  trips,  in  needless  luxuries.  Pie  who 
forgets  himself  in  doing  public  service  is  the  very  man  whom 
the  public  will  not  forget.  "  He  that  loseth  his  life  shall  find 
it." 

From  these  replies,  and  hundreds  of  others,  we  may  tabu- 
late a  decalogue,  giving  ten  laws  of  success  from  the  newest 
testament  of  God  in  modern  history  and  experience. 

In  order  for  a  man  to  succeed — that  is,  to  make  the  most  of 
himself  and  his  opportunities — he  should  bind  himself  to  nn- 


WHAT   SUCCESSFUL  MEtf   SAY   OF   SUCCESS.  147 

flinching  obedience  to  these  true  and  proved  laws  of  success  : 
First,  never  misrepresent  ;  second,  let  your  spoken  word  be  as 
reliable  as  your  written  note  or  contract,  but  never  take  any 
one's  word  for  it  in  business  matters  except  in  black  and  white  ; 
third,  never  pay  a  bill  without  taking  a  receipt  in  full  ;  fourth, 
treat  a  customer  as  a  friend,  and  never  allow  him  to  be  disap- 
pointed ;  fifth,  keep  down  expenses  ;  sixth,  invest  profits 
safely  ;  seventh,  live  within  your  income  ;  eighth,  if  hard  run 
for  money,  let  your  wife  know  it.  (There  were  invitations  out 
for  a  splendid  party  on  the  very  night  Professor  Webster  killed 
his  friend  and  burned  him  up  for  the  sake  of  money)  ;  ninth, 
don't  boast  of  your  business.  (Said  a  man  one  day  to  the  elder 
Astor,  "  Why  is  it  that  you  have  made  so  much  money,  and  I 
none,  although  I  have  been  as  temperate,  as  industrious,  and  as 
economical  as  you?"  "You  talk  too  much,"*  replied  the 
millionaire)  ;  tenth,  courage  to  say  "  No"  or  "  Yes"  at  the 
right  time,  and  to  overcome  obstacles. 

I  would  not  for  a  moment  have  any  one  suppose  that  the 
same  causes  or  rules  will  in  different  men  produce  the  same 
effects,  f  I  do  not  even  believe  that  men  can  fully  analyze  and 

*  "  Do  not  hunt  partridges  with  a  band  of  music." 

"  Speech  is  silver,  and  silence  is  golden." 

"  Speak  one  word  while  you  listen  to  a  thousand." 

One  newspaper  recently  said,  "  People  who  wonder  why  men's  hair 
turns  gray  before  their  whiskers,  should  reflect  that  there  is  about 
twenty  years' difference  in  their  respective  ages."  Another  paper 
adds,  "  But  then,  the  fact  that  men  exercise  their  jaws  so  much 
more  than  they  do  their  brains,  ought  to  make  up  that  difference. 
So  the  question  is  still  open." 

Kead  also  Prov.  12  :  23  ;  13  :  3  ;  14  :  23  ;  17  :  27  ;  18  :  7  ;  James 
1  :  19. 

f  Judge  Tourgee,  author  of  "  A  Fool's  Errand,  by  One  of  the 
Fools,"  in  his  reply  to  my  circular,  emphasizes  some  of  the  dangers 
connected  with  the  study  of  success  : 

"  MY  DEAR  SIR  :  I  would  be  glad  to  answer  the  inclosed  inquiries 
if  I  did  not  regard  them  as  misleading,  vague,  and  if  published, 
harmful,  especially  to  the  young.  These  rules  for  success  in  life  are 
like  formularies  for  breaking  the  bank  at  faro.  In  my  judgment  very 


148  SUCCESSFUL   MEN"   OF  TO-DAY. 

describe  the  reasons  for  their  own  success.  But  out  of  the 
many  facts  and  experiences  of  commercial  life  we  can  as  surely 
deduce  some  laws  of  success  as  we  can  formulate  laws  of 
nature,  such  as  gravitation,  from  the  study  of  creation.  It  is 
at  least  as  important  to  know  the  moving  principles  in  the  world 
of  commerce  as  to  know  the  modes  of  motion  in  the  skies 
above  us. 

The  saddest  certainty  of  all  is  thai  so  many  young  men  will 
refuse  to  learn  by  the  painful  experiences  of  their  predecessors, 

few  men  know  why  they  have  succeeded,  and  if  they  did,  the  same 
causes  would  not  bring  success  to  others.  Again  your  idea  of  suc- 
cess and  mine  might  be  different.  Of  those  who  have  made  great 
fortunes  very  few  would  admit  that  lying  and  cheating  were  the 
c  chief  elements '  of  their  success.  Yet  every  lawyer  knows  it  to  be 
true.  Take  my  own  case.  I  think  my  success  is  due  (such  as  it  is) 
chiefly  to  a  good  stomach  and  an  aptitude  for  folly.  Yet  you  would 
not  commend  bull-headed,  blind-eyed  foolishness  to  your  young 
inquirers  for  the  short  cut  to  the  top  of  the  hill.  Again  such  statis- 
tics are  mischievous  because  they  are  the  wrong  kind  of  data.  What 
we  call  success  is  always  exceptional.  Usually  in  such  cases,  the 
men,  the  means  and  the  opportunity  are  exceptional.  Very  rich  men 
are  simply  monsters.  So  are  great  statesmen  and  generals  and 
authors.  We  may  trace  their  growth  and  find  out  some  of  its  causes, 
but  you  cannot  deduct  therefrom  the  elements  of  a  posset  that  shall 
make  others  to  grow  up  like  them.  Again,  I  don't  know  your  idea 
of  what  constitutes  failure—'  numerous  failures. '  If  you  mean  busi- 
ness collapse  I  should  say  it  generally  resulted  from  carrying  too  big 
a  load.  From  your  use  of  the  term  '  professional '  I  suppose  you 
mean  more,  though  I  don't  know  about  a  professional  man  failing  if 
he  works,  keeps  sober,  and  sleeps  at  home.  Lawyers,  ministers  and 
doctors  live  on  the  sins  of  the  people,  and  of  course  grow  fat  with 
reasonable  exertion  unless  the  competition  is  too  great.  It  requires 
real  genius  to  fail  in  either  of  these  walks  of  life.  But  the  failure 
itself  is  almost  as  often  success  as  otherwise.  Every  man  who  makes 
a  fortune  has  been  more  than  once  a  bankrupt,  if  the  truth  were 
known.  Grant's  failure  as  a  subaltern  made  him  commander-in- 
chief ,  and  for  myself,  my  failure  to  accomplish  what  I  set  out  to  do 
led  me  to  what  I  never  had  aspired  to.  Yours  respectfully, 

"A.  W.  TOURGEE." 


WHAT  SUCCESSFUL  MEtf  SAY   OP  SUCCESS.  149 

and  insist  on  working  out  every  sad  lesson  by  their  own  dis- 
tress or  defeat,  as  a  child  must  burn  his  own  fingers  before  he 
will  believe  what  his  father  tells  him  about  the  stove.  It  isn't 
enough  that  your  father  has  done  wrong  and  "  seen  the  folly 
of  it."  You  want  to  see  it  for  yourself.  You  want  to  "  see 
the  lions,"  forgetting  that  the  lions  may  come  out  to  see  you. 
But  some  will  heed  the  sign-boards  I  am  putting  up  to  show, 
by  the  experience  of  our  wisest  men,  the  path  of  success. 

Let  us  not  forget  that  we  are  called  to  success,  not  only  in 
that  department  of  our  business  which  relates  chiefly  to  this 
world,  but  also  in  that  wholesale  department  of  every  man's 
business  which  relates  to  the  soul  and  eternity.  In  this  also  we 
are  successful  if  we  do  our  best  every  day.  That  woman  is 
successful  in  Christian  work  of  whom  Jesus  can  say,  "  She 
hath  done  what  she  could."  That  man  is  successful  as  a  Chris- 
tian who  comes  up  to  the  level  of  his  best. 

When  Nelson  signalled  from  his  flagship  to  every  person  in 
his  fleet,  ' '  England  expects  every  man  to  do  his  duty, ' '  it  did 
not  mean  the  same  to  all.  To  the  captains  it  meant  that  they 
should  do  their  best  as  commanders  ;  to  the  marines,  that  they 
should  do  their  best  at  the  guns  ;  to  the  sailors,  that  they  should 
do  their  best  in  sailing  the  ships  ;  to  the  cabin-boys,  that  they 
should  do  their  best  as  messengers.  Every  one  succeeded  who 
did  what  he  could.  Let  not  the  Church  of  Christ  be  like  Cole- 
ridge's phantom  ship,  with  a  dead  man  at  the  helm,  dead  men 
on  the  deck,  dead  men  in  the  rigging  ;  but  like  Nelson's  fleet, 
where  every  man  does  his  best  for  the  sake  of  his  country  and 
his  God.* 

Over  both  departments  of  our  business,  the  earthly  and  the 
heavenly,  in  each  of  which  we  are  called  to  glorify  God  and  do 
good  to  men,  let  us  write, 

GOD    EXPECTS    EVERY    ONE    TO    DO    HIS    BEST. 

*  Bom.  12  : 6-8. 


THE  men  who  gain  riches,  and  really  enjoy  them,  are  the  men  that 
have  to  sweat  for  them.  The  industrj'  that  acquired  them  ;  the 
patience  that  is  required  obtaining  them  ;  the  reserved  self-control  ; 
the  measurings  of  values  ;  the  sympathy  felt  for  fellow-toilers  ;  the 
knowledge  of  what  a  dollar  costs  to  the  average  man  ;  the  memory 
of  it — all  these  things  are  preservative  ;  but  woe  to  the  young  man 
who  hates  farming,  does  not  like  sowing  and  reaping,  is  impatient 
with  the  dilatory  and  slow  path  to  a  small  though  secure  fortune  in 
the  neighborhood  where  he  was  born,  and  comes  to  the  city  hoping 
to  become  suddenly  rich,  and  thinking  that  he  can  break  into  the 
palace  of  wealth  and  rob  it  of  its  golden  treasures  ! — HENEY  WABD 
BEECHEE. 

The  working-classes  in  the  agricultural  districts  in  France  are,  as  a 
rule,  much  more  provident  than  the  same  class  in  England.  Multi- 
tudes of  our  highly-paid  workmen  make  not  the  slightest  provision 
to  meet  a  period  of  adversity. — SIB  THOMAS  BBASSEY. 

One  of  the  most  painful  things,  to  my  mind,  to  be  seen  in  England 
is  this,  that  among  the  great  body  of  those  classes  which  earn  their 
living  by  their  daily  labor,  there  is  an  absence  of  that  hope  which 
every  man  ought  to  have,  if  he  be  industrious  and  frugal,  of  a  com- 
fortable independence  as  he  advances  in  life. — JOHN  BBIGHT. 

The  habit  of  saving,  so  as  to  be  beforehand  with  the  world,  if  it  is 
to  be  acquired  at  all,  must  be  acquired  early. — THE  EABL  OF  DERBY. 

National  thrift  means  national  prosperity. — EMILY  FAITHFULL. 

The  only  sound  and  healthy  description  of  assisting  is  that  which 
teaches  independence  and  self-exertion. — GLADSTONE. 

If  principles  of  self-reliance  and  thrift  were  thoroughly  observed 
by  the  working-classes,  the  prosperity  of  the  country  would  be  won- 
derfully increased.— THE  EABL  OF  SHAFTESBUBY. 

Economy  is  half  the  battle  of  life.— SPUBGEON. 

The  perverseness  of  transgressors  shall  destroy  them.  The  fool 
shall  be  servant  to  the  wise  of  heart.  The  wicked  are  overthrown 
and  are  not ;  but  the  house  of  the  righteous  shall  stand. — Proverbs 
of  Solomon. 

Prosperity  is  a  more  severe  ordeal  than  adversity,  especially  sud- 
den prosperity. — P.  T.  BAENUM. 

For  one  man  who  can  stand  prosperity,  there  are  a  hundred  that 
will  stand  adversity.  — CAELYLE. 


XYI. 

WHAT  SUCCESSFUL    MEN    SAY  OF  THE  FAILURE 
OF   OTHERS. 

EACH  parable  of  Christ  is  a  kaleidoscope,  picturing  not  one 
truth  but  many.  This  is  especially  the  case  with  the  parable 
of  the  prodigal.  At  first  you  behold  in  it  a  divine  picture  of 
the  Heavenly  Father's  love  for  the  penitent  sinner. 

Turn  the  parable  about  and  look  at  it  in  another  way,  and 
you  see  a  picture  of  the  two  kinds  of  true  conversion.  Every 
one  needs  to  be  born  of  the  Spirit,  but  there  is  diversity  of 
operations.  The  younger  son  represents  those  who  have  sown 
their  wild  oats,  and  in  reaping  them  have  been  led  to  bitter 
repentance,  and  then  to  the  exciting  joy  of  pardon.  The  elder 
son  represents  the  greater  number  in  the  Church,  who  never 
wandered  into  immorality  <•  who  cannot  even  remember  the 
time  when  they  did  not  pray  ;  who  chose  Jesus  as  their  King 
and  Saviour  when  he  was  first  presented  to  them  ;  and  though 
they  have  sinoe  transgressed  God's  law,  like  other  Christians, 
they  have  never  dethroned  Christ  in  their  hearts.  To  such  the 
Father  says,  "Son,  thou  art  ever  with  me."  To  this  class 
nearly  all  who  are  trained  in  Christian  homes  would  belong,  as 
did  Jeremiah  and  John  the  Baptist  and  Samuel  and  Timothy, 
but  for  the  strange,  unbiblical  tradition  that  one  must  be  bad 
before  he  can  be  good,  that  he  must  be  apprenticed  to  the  devil 
and  learn  to  sow  wild  oats  before  he  can  "  bear  precious  seed  " 
for  God  and  humanity.  The  parable  of  the  prodigal  assures  us 
that  one  need  not  wander  at  all  from  the  Father's  house,  but 
may  abide  with  him  from  the  first. 

Turn  the  parable  again,  and  get  one  of  the  views  that  is 


152  SUCCESSFUL  MEN  OF  TO-DAY. 

seldom  noticed — its  literal  application  to  the  failures  and  sue-* 
cesses  of  young  men. 

In  this  connection  it  will  be  appropriate  to  quote  the  replies 
that  I  have  received  from  leading  men  of  our  country  to  the 
question,  "  What,  in  your  observation,  have  been  the  chief 
causes  of  the  numerous  failures  in  life  of  business  and  profes- 
sional men  ?" 

Governor  St.  John  answers,  "  Idleness,  intemperance.'* 

Alexander  H.  Stephens  answers,  "  Want  of  punctuality, 
honesty,  and  truth. ' ' 

Hon.  Darwin  R.  James,  Brooklyn's  Congressman,  answers, 
"  Incorrect  views  of  the  great  end  and  aim  of  life.  Men  are 
not  contented  to  live  plain  lives  of  integrity  and  uprightness. 
They  want  to  get  ahead  too  fast,  and  are  led  into  temptation." 

President  Bartlett,  of  Dartmouth  College,  names  as  causes  of 
failure  :  "  Lack  of  principle,  of  fixed  purpose,  of  perseve- 
rance." President  Eliot,  of  Harvard,  replies,  "Stupidity, 
laziness,  rashness,  and  dishonesty."  Dr.  H.  M.  Dexter 
answers  : 

"  1.  Want  of  thoroughness  of  preparation. 

"2.  Want  of  fixedness  of  purpose. 

"  3.  Want  of  faith  in  the  inevitable  triumph  of  right  and 
truth." 

Anthony  Comstock's  answers  are  :  "  Unholy  living  and  dis- 
honest practices  ;  lust  and  intemperance  ;  living  beyond  one's 
means. ' ' 

The  fullest  answer  to  this  question  about  failures,  which  is 
from  a  Brooklyn  man  of  long  experience  in  business  life,  is  as 
follows  : 

"  I  would  name,  first,  a  lack  of  special  preparation  on  the 
part  of  young  men  for  a  special  occupation  or  profession. 
Most  boys  get  a  fair  general  education,  and  when  that  is  done 
take  hold  of  the  thing  which  promises  the  most  immediate 
return  for  their  labor,  not  stopping  to  look  forward  to  the  end 
or  to  consult  their  adaptability  to  the  business  or  profession. 
Some  look  only  to  see  what  standing  it  will  give  them  in 


WHAT   SUCCESSFUL   MEN"   SAY    OF    FAILURE.  153 

society  ;  others  consider  if  it  will  enable  them  to  dress  in  fine 
clothing  and  make  a  good  appearance.  Next  stands  the  mis- 
take of  young  men  in  being  in  too  much  of  a  hurry  to  spend 
money  as  fast  as  others,  a  desire  to  be  considered  in  better 
circumstances  than  they  really  are,  and  a  pressure  to  get  ahead 
faster  than  they  learn  their  business.  In  this  way  one  often 
climbs  a  ladder  before  the  foundation  is  made  secure,  and  after- 
ward, when  he  has  to  take  the  responsibility,  does  not  know  all 
his  business,  and  has  to  intrust  a  part  of  it  to  others,  and  does 
not  know  whether  they  are  doing  it  right  or  not.  By  and  by, 
when  he  thinks  he  is  safe  and  beyond  danger,  the  foundation 
corner  which  he  trusted  to  some  one  else  has  given  way  and  he 
is  overthrown.  He  needs  to  know  his  whole  business,  so  that 
he  can  tell  when  it  is  done  right.  Another  great  mistake  is 
that  when  a  young  man  sees  his  name  on  a  sign  he  is  apt  to 
think  that  his  fortune  is  made,  and  so  begins  to  spend  money 
as  if  he  had  already  got  beyond  any  chance  of  failure.  An- 
other common  mistake  is  that  men,  old  as  well  as  young,  are 
too  ready  to  use  their  credit,  not  realizing  that  the  goods 
bought  on  credit  are  not  theirs  and  that  a  pay-day  is  coming. 
When  they  find  their  notes  coming  due  and  have  not  the  money 
to  pay  them,  they  are  tempted  to  sell  goods  without  a  profit  for 
the  sake  of  getting  the  money  or  a  note  which  they  can  turn 
into  money.  Just  the  moment  a  man  is  obliged  to  do  that,  he 
is  not  master  of  his  own  business,  and  as  a  rule  it  is  only  a 
matter  of  a  little  time  when  he  will  have  to  go  down.  Many 
are  ruined  by  starting  on  too  much  expense,  and  then  must  do 
a  large  business  to  be  able  to  cover  expenses,  and  in  order  to  do 
that  they  give  credit  to  parties  who  are  not  worthy  of  it.  Let 
a  young  man  fear  God,  be  industrious,  know  his  business,  spend 
a  little  less  than  he  earns,  and  success  is  sure." 

Mr.  H.  E.  Simmons,  manager  of  tfie  American  Tract  Soci- 
ety, gives  as  the  chief  causes  of  failure  in  life  :  "  Fast  living, 
mental,  spiritual  and  bodily  ;  lack  of  attention  to  the  details 
of  business."  General  O.  O.  Howard  answers,  "Breaking 
the  divine  laws  of  the  body  by  vice  ;  those  of  the  mind  by 


154  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

overwork  or  idleness  ;  and  those  of  the  heart  by  making  an 
idol  of  self."  (This  tallies  with  the  words  of  Emerson  :  "  Suc- 
cess consists  in  close  appliance  to  the  laws  of  the  world.") 

Professor  Homer  B.  Sprague,  of  Boston,  answers  : 

"1.   Ill-health. 

"2.  Mistake  in  the  choice  of  employment. 

"  3.  Lack  of  persistent  and  protracted  effort. 

"4.  A  low  ideal,  making  success  to  consist  in  personal 
aggrandizement  rather  than  in  the  training  and  development  of 
a  pure  and  noble  character." 

Dr.  Lyman  Abbott  answers,  "  The  combined  spirit  of  lazi- 
ness and  self-conceit  that  makes  a  man  unwilling  to  do  any- 
thing unless  he  can  choose  just  what  he  will  do."  A.  W. 
Tenney,  district  attorney  for  Brooklyn,  replies,  "  Outside  of 
intemperance,  failure  to  grasp  and  hold  ;  scattering  too  much  ; 
want  of  integrity  and  promptness  ;  unwillingness  to  achieve 
success  by  earning  it  in  the  old-fashioned  way. ' '  The  attorney- 
general  of  a  neighboring  State  replies,  "  Living  beyond  one's 
income,  and  speculating  with  borrowed  funds.  Unwillingness 
to  begin  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder  and  work  up.  Young  men 
want  to  be  masters  at  the  start,  and  assume  to  know  before  they 
have  learned."  Another  answers,  "  Giving  money-making  a 
first  place  and  right-doing  a  second  place. ' ' 

Judge  Tourgee,  author  of  "  A  Fool's  Errand,"  considers  the 
most  frequent  cause  of  business  collapse  to  be,  "  Trying  to 
carry  too  big  a  load."  As  to  others  he  says,  "  I  don't  know 
about  a  prof essional  man's  failing,  if  he  works,  keeps  sober,  and 
sleeps  at  home.  Lawyers,  ministers,  and  doctors  live  on  the  sins 
of  the  people,  and  of  course  grow  fat  under  reasonable  exertion, 
unless  the  competition  is  too  great.  It  requires  real  genius  to 
fail  in  either  of  these  walks  of  life. ' '  Joseph  Medill,  ex-mayor 
of  Chicago  and  present  editor  of  the  Chicago  Tribune,  names 
the  following  causes  of  failure  :  "  Liquor-drinking,  gambling, 
reckless  speculation,  dishonesty,  tricky  conduct,  cheating,  idle- 
ness, shirking  hard  work,  frivolous  reading,  lack  of  manhood 
in  the  battle  of  life,  failure  to  improve  opportunities."  That 


WHAT   SUCCESSFUL  MEK   SAY   OF   FAILUKE.  155 

list  very  nearly  covers  the  case  of  the  prodigal,  into  whose  story 
I  shall  weave  yet  other  answers. 

Look  into  his  father's  home  that  day  when  the  restless  young 
fellow  attained  his  majority.  There  are  two  sons.  The  elder 
son  is  one  of  those  naturally  good  boys  who  find  it  easy  to  do 
right.  The  younger  son  is  one  of  the  sort  who  find  it  much 
easier  to  do  wrong.  The  elder  son,  if  living  to-day,  would  be 
content  to  take  a  farm  in  Kansas  and  earn  his  money  slowly, 
surely,  honestly,  quietly.  The  younger  one  would  push  on  to 
Colorado  to  made  a  sudden  fortune  in  the  excitement  of  min- 
ing, taking  the  risk  of  ruining  his  character  by  bad  associates 
and  haste  to  be  rich.  The  younger  son,  having  become  of  age, 
is  unwilling  to  stay  on  the  farm,  where  he  is  sure  of  a  moderate 
competence.  He  wants  more  money,  more  excitement,  more 
pleasures,  and  less  of  restraint  and  labor. 

"  Father,  give  me  the  share  of  property  that  you  intend  to 
will  to  me,  and  let  me  go  to  the  great  city  and  make  my  for- 
tune." The  father  would  fain  detain  him,  but  neither  an 
earthly  father  nor  the  heavenly  Father  can  save  a  man  from  the 
responsibility  of  his  own  free  acts. 

Tho  younger  son  gets  his  half  of  the  property  and  turns  it 
into  money  and  clothes,  and  hurries  away  to  his  castles  in 
Spain,  where  he  expects  to  be  wondrously  rich  and  happy. 
This  episode  in  the  young  man's  life  represents  the  unwise 
spirit  of  changefulness  in  business  employments,  by  which  much 
experience  is  lost  and  failure  is  brought  to  many  lives.  In  the 
country  on  his  father's  farm,  the  prodigal  would  probably  have 
succeeded  in  getting  money  and  saving  his  morals.  Hastening 
to  the  city  before  he  was  prepared  in  character  for  its  tempta- 
tions, led  to  moral  and  financial  bankruptcy.  So  the  cobbler 
goes  beyond  his  shoes  and  fails.  He  might  have  made  a  suc- 
cess on  shoes,  but  he  fails  on  sermons.  He  thought,  or  his 
parents  thought,  that  he  had  a  call  to  preach,  but  he  "must 
have  heard  some  other  noise." 

"  A  chicken,  trying  to  swim  with  some  ducks,  complained 
of  the  world.  '  The  world  is  all  right, '  replied  the  ducks,  '  if 


156  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

you  adjust  yourself  to  it.  Keep  in  your  element  (the  land), 
and  not  ours,  which  is  satisfactory  to  us  '  " — a  parable  for  the 
warning  of  parents  who  crowd  into  the  professions  sons  who 
ought  to  be  mechanics. 

Rolling  stones,  in  the  shape  of  New  England  pilgrims,  have 
gathered  golden  moss  all  over  our  land,  but  the  proverb  about 
rolling  stones  is  nevertheless  largely  true.  Those  who  hurry 
from  bush  to  bush  seeking  better  chances  do  not  usually  get  the 
most  berries.  lt  Do  not  put  your  fingers  into  every  hole." 
"  Unstable  .as  Reuben,  thou  shalt  not  excel."  Sticktoitiveness 
wins  more  than  changeful  ness.  "  Look  before  you  leap." 
"  Be  sure  you  are  right,  and  then  go  ahead."  He  that  waver- 
eth,  let  not  that  man  think  that  he  shall  receive  anything  of 
the  Lord  or  of  men.  Among  the  causes  of  failure  given  by 
my  correspondents,  many  may  be  classified  under  the  general 
fault  of  wavering,  such  as  "  Lack  of  determined  purpose," 
"Wavering  purposes,"  "  Nonsticktoitiveness,"  "Failure  to 
grasp  and  hold,"  "  Scattering  too  much,"  **  Trying  to  do  too 
many  things,  rather  than  sticking  to  the  one  thing  one  knows 
most  about. ' ' 

A  young  man  spends  seven  years  in  a  grocery,  and  when  he 
has  just  learned  the  business  he  concludes  to  go  into  dry 
goods.  By  failing  to  choose  that  first,  he  has  thrown  away 
seven  years'  experience.  Probably  after  learning  the  dry-goods 
business  he  will  conclude  to  become  a  watchmaker,  and  so  at 
last  become  a  jack-at-all-trades,  good  at  none.  A  prominent 
merchant  says,  "  Nearly  all  failures  in  legitimate  business 
come  from  not  serving  an  apprenticeship  to  it" — that  is,  from 
leaving  a  business  that  one  knows  for  another  which  he  does 
not  understand. 

In  the  prodigal's  departure  from  his  country  home  we  see 
also  the  common  disposition  to  escape  hard  work  and  get  rich 
in  haste — "  desiring  the  success  another  man  has,  without 
being  willing  to  work  as  that  man  does,"  and  begin,  as  he 
did,  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder.  The  prodigal  did  not  like 
manual  work  any  better  than  American  boys  of  to-day,  who 


WHAT  SUCCESSFUL  MEN  SAY  OF  FAILURE.  15? 

take  six  dollars  a  week  for  measuring  tape  when  they  might 
have  twenty-five  as  mechanics.  The  prodigal  wanted  a  short 
cut  to  wealth  and  an  easy  path.  He  was  *  *  unwilling  to  achieve 
success  by  earning  it  in  the  old-fashioned  way,  by  hard  work." 
How  many  who  were  thus  in  haste  to  be  rich,  "  to  reap  with- 
out patient  industry  in  sowing, ' '  have  learned  the  truth  of  the 
old  proverb,  "  The  more  haste,  the  worse  speed  1" 

"  Great  greediness  to  reap 
Helps  not  the  money  heap." 

The  prodigal  failed  partly  because  he  started  out  with  "  a 
low  and  selfish  idea  of  success, ' '  with  * '  false  views  of  the  great 
end  and  aim  of  life,  as  pleasure,  show,  money." 

A  leading  manufacturer  in  Philadelphia,  who  has  lived  fifty- 
two  years  in  that  city,  says,  u  I  never  knew  a  business  man 
among  all  those  whose  lives  are  failures,  who  gave  his  heart  to 
God  in  his  youth. " 


WHILE  we  are  not  to  denounce  riches,  while  we  are  at  liberty  to 
seek  them  as  normal,  falling  in  with  the  providence  of  God,  and  run- 
ning in  the  line  of  grace  itself  when  rightly  used,  we  are  to  beware 
of  using  them  for  anything  except  love — love  to  our  household  and 
love  to  our  fellow-men.  We  are  to  hold  them  as  a  power  put  into  our 
hands  as  power  is  put  into  the  hands  of  a  Christian  sovereign,  not 
that  the  throne  may  be  a  centre  and  seat  of  selfishness,  but  that  they 
may  be  employed  for  distribution,  and  for  the  comfort  and  protec- 
tion of  the  whole  people.  Biches  acquired  and  held  for  selfish  pur- 
poses suffocate  men.  They  kill  our  best  instincts.  They  put  them 
on  false  views.  They  disjoin  them  from  the  proper  sympathy  of 
man  with  man.  They  are  mischievous,  deadly.  But  riches  in  the 
hands  of  true  benevolence  exalt  men.  How  must  a  rectified  spirit  in 
heaven  rejoice  to  look  down  on  that  which  upon  earth  he  honestly 
earned  and  invested  for  charity  and  beneficence,  and  to  see  it  work- 
ing for  mankind,  age  after  age,  and  generation  after  generation  !  No 
man's  riches  are  subject  of  envy  where  he  uses  them  properly.  If  a 
man's  life  is  devoted  to  doing  good  ;  if  on  whichever  side  men  touch 
him  he  throws  upon  them  his  sympathy,  and  manifests  toward  them 
an  eager  desire  for  their  welfare,  nobody  wants  him  to  be  less  rich. 
There  be  multitudes  of  men  that  have  renowned  wealth  whose  fail- 
ure, if  they  were  to  stumble  and  fall  to-morrow,  legions  of  men  would 
rejoice  over,  saying,  "  Served  him  right !  Served  him  right !"  But 
there  are  some  rich  men  whose  loss,  when  they  depart,  all  men 
lament. — HENEY  WABD  BEECHES. 

Each  soul  is  worth  so  much  on  'change, 
And  marked  like  sheep  with  figures. — MBS.  BBOWNING. 
How  many  rich  dwellings  there  are,  crowded  with  every  appoint- 
ment of  luxury,  that  are  only  glittering  caverns  of  selfishness  and  dis- 
content !    "  Better  a  dinner  of  herbs  where  love  is,  than  a  stalled  ox 
and  hatred  therewith." — CHAPIN. 

For  aught  I  see,  they  are  as  sick  that  surfeit  with  too  much  as  they 
that  starve  with  nothing.— SHAKESPEABE. 

Honor  and  wealth  are  illusory  :  come, 

Happiness  dwells  in  the  temple  of  home. — SCHTLLEB. 

Not  the  wealthy,  but  the  bonnie. — BUBNS. 
What  thou  wouldst  highly,  that  wouldst  thou  holily. — SHAKESPEARE. 


XVII. 

1 <  POOR    IN    ABUNDANCE. » 

THE  prodigal  at  first  seemed  to  be  successful.  For  a  young 
man  he  was  counted  rich.  He  was  at  once  received  into  "  the 
best  society"  of  the  city  to  which  he  had  gone.  In  his  own 
home  he  entertained  with  the  rarest  of  wines  and  the  choicest 
of  viands.  At  this  period  he  represents  the  poor  rich.  "  Poor 
in  abundance,  famished  at  a  feast."*  Ill-gotten  wealth  only 
counterfeits  success,  for  bankruptcy  of  honor  is  worst  of  fail- 
ures. u  A  poor  man  is  better  than  a  liar."  \  "  Never  value 
anything  as  profitable  to  thyself, "  said  Marcus  Aurelius,  u  which 
shall  compel  thee  to  lose  thy  self-respect." 

What  matters  it  to  have  much  on  earth  and  little  in  heaven  ? 
Money  does  not  answer  all  things.  Hear  the  godless  rich  man, 
when  in  health,  saying  to  his  minister,  "  I  have  thought  about 
religion,  and  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  I  have  no  need 
of  Christ."  Hear  that  same  man,  dying  and  leaving  all  he 
has,  exclaim,  "  Who  will  carry  me  over  the  river?"  Reach- 
ing the  river  of  death,  he  has  nothing  to  pay  his  ferriage. 

Time  is  money,  but  money  is  not  time.  All  her  gold  could 
not  purchase  for  the  dying  queen  ' '  a  moment  of  time. ' '  Time 
destroyed  in  selfishness  and  sin  is  suicide  where  more  than 
blood  is  spilt. 

il  How  is  your  old  classmate,  F.,  doing  ?" 

"  Not  very  well,  I'm  sorry  to  say." 

*  Young's  "Night  Thoughts." 

t  Prov.  13  :  7  ;  15  :  16,  17  ;  16  :  8  ;  17  .  1  ;  28  :  6  ;  Eccl.  4:6; 
Psa.  37  : 16  ;  Phil.  4  : 11-13. 


1GO  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF   TO-DAY. 

* '  Why,  I  thought  I  heard  he  was  at  about  the  top  of  the 
profession. ' ' 

"So  he  is." 

"  And  growing  rich  fast." 

"  Yes,  that  is  true." 

'*  Well,  what  do  you  mean,  then  ?" 

"  I  mean  that  he  is  running  down  hill  every  day — is  almost 
at  the  bottom  ;  and  the  prospect  is  darker  the  longer  he  lives. 
lie  seemed  to  be  a  noble  fellow  in  college,  with  something  of 
almost  Christian  principle  in  him.  But  he  has  sagged  away 
into  a  mean  ambition,  grown  harder  and  colder  with  every 
year,  is  getting  more  tightly  hide-bound  in  his  selfishness, 
and,  for  aught  I  see,  is  already  virtually  a  lost  man." 

"  This  is  a  new  way  you  have  of  looking  at  men  like  him." 

"  Perhaps  so  ;  but  possibly  we  may  find,  by  and  by,  that 
other  eyes  up  yonder  see  him  in  about  the  same  light." 

When  a  man  fills  his  pocket  to  the  neglect  of  his  mind  and 
soul,  his  wealth  becomes  the  silver  bridle  of  an  ass. 

That  rich  man  is  a  failure  who  is  "  living  the  life  of  the  flesh, 
whether  in  low,  sensual  gratification,  or  that  which  is  refined, 
aesthetic,  and  selfish."  Alas  that  there  are  still  in  the  world,  as 
in  the  time  when  Christ  spoke  his  parables,  rich  fools,  whose 
lives  are  so  sensual  and  selfish  that  they  really  do  not  know 
what  else  to  do  with  wealth  than  to  use  it  for  bodily  enjoy- 
ment. All  that  it  says  to  them  is,  "  Eat,  drink,  and  be 
merry. ' '  God  calls  such  a  man  a  *  *  fool  ' '  for  caring  more  for 
his  store  than  his  soul.  A  twenty-thousand-dollar  picture  or 
charity  has  no  charms  for  such,  but  they  delight  in  a  twenty- 
thousand-dollar  spree.  There  are  many  such  men  in  our  min- 
ing States  and  some  in  New  York — animals  loaded  with  ingots. 

Every  rich  man  whose  money  is  not  clean  is  a  failure, 
whether  found  out  or  not.  "  Those  eighteen  upon  whom  the 
tower  of  Siloam  fell  and  killed  them,  think  you  that  they  were 
offenders  above  all  the  men  that  dwell  at  Jerusalem  ?"  Those 
rehypothecators  of  trust  funds  for  private  speculations  who  are 
now  in  jail,  or  in  exile  as  fugitives  from  justice,  think  you  they 


"POOH    IN    ABUNDANCE. "  161 

are  offenders  above  all  the  men  that,  as  bank  presidents  and 
public  treasurers  and  trustees,  make  millions  of  dollars  a  year 
out  of  a  salary  of  eight  or  ten  thousand  ?  I  tell  you,  Nay. 

How  significant  in  these  days  is  that  verse  of  the  Bible  which 
literally  means,  ' '  I  know  whom  I  have  made  my  Trustee,  and 
am  persuaded  that  he  will  keep  what  I  have  committed  to  him 
against  that  day  !" 

How  "  many  kinds  of  evil  "  have  been  rooted  in  "  the  love 
of  money"  in  all  countries  and  in  all  centuries  !  By  covetous- 
ness  more  than  by  perverted  conscience  the  persecutions  of  the 
Jews  have  been  caused  in  all  ages.  It  is  Judas  who  cries  out 
against  "  Christ-killers,"  that  he  may  get  their  confiscated 
gold.  Greed  in  American  whalemen,  aided  by  lust,  has 
almost  depopulated  the  Sandwich  Islands — Christianity  coming 
too  late  to  do  more  than  delay  the  result.  Greed  in  the  Portu- 
guese traders,  aided  by  Romanism,  caused  the  banishment  of 
Christianity  for  two  centuries  from  Japan.  Greed  in  English 
merchants  carried  the  opium  curse  into  China.  Greed's  in- 
justice and  trickery  have  provoked  most  of  our  Indian  wars. 
Greed  has  corrupted  our  national  politics.  Greed  is  the  insti- 
gator of  the  most  destructive  diseases  of  America  to-day — those 
that  come  from  penurious  plumbing  ! 

What  is  the  meaning  of  the  new  laws  on  this  latter  subject  ? 
They  mean  that  many  a  contractor  has  built  death-traps,  and 
many  a  landlord  has  rented  them,  rather  than  spend  a  few  dol- 
lars more  in  proper  plumbing.  Money  thus  saved  is  foul  with 
the  slaughter  of  the  innocents.  What  is  the  advantage  of  your 
grand  mirrors  if  you  see  a  miser  or  a  murderer  every  time  you 
look  into  them  ? 

"  Mr.  A.  has  just  died  worth  ten  millions.  When  he  meets 
God  he  will  have  two  hard  questions  to  answer  :  First,  How 
did  you  get  that  money  ?  second,  What  did  you  do  with  it  ?" 

That  man  is  a  failure  who  has  gained  wealth  by  the  sacrifice 
of  greater  things.  It  is  not  success  to  give  two  millions  for 
one,  nor  to  exchange  character  for  cash.  That  man  has  done 
this  who  has  acquired  wealth  to  be  his  good  servant  and  then 


162  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

has  allowed  it  to  become  his  despotic  master.  Freedom  is 
better  than  gold.  That  man  has  made  a  bad  bargain,  giving 
the  greater  for  the  less,  who  has  allowed  "  money-making  the 
first  place,  and  right-doing  only  the  second  place  in  his 
heart." 

Millions  of  young  men  in  our  land  are  ambitious  to  be  mill- 
ionaires. Let  them  consider  well  what  that  ambition  is  likely 
to  cost.  Some  years  ago  the  following  suggestions  were  made 
in  The  Radical  to  candidates  for  the  rank  of  millionaire  : 

"  Assuming  that  you  do  not  propose  to  yourself  to  be  a 
member  of  a  society  (  where  all  the  men  are  brave  and  all  the 
women  virtuous,'  but  that  you  do  propose  to  yourself  to  belong 
to  one  where  '  every  man  is  a  millionaire, '  you  will  see  from 
what  I  have  written  below  what  is  necessary  : 

"  You  must  be  a  very  able  man,  as  nearly  all  millionaires  are. 

"  You  must  devote  your  life  to  the  getting  and  keeping  of 
other  men's  earnings. 

"  You  must  eat  the  bread  of  carefulness,  and  you  must  rise 
early  and  lie  down  late. 

"  You  must  care  little  or  nothing  about  other  men's  wants  or 
sufferings  or  disappointments. 

"  You  must  not  mind  it,  that  your  great  wealth  involves 
many  others'  poverty. 

"  You  must  not  give  away  money  except  for  a  material 
equivalent. 

"  You  must  not  go  maundering  about  nature,  nor  spend  your 
time  enjoying  air,  earth,  sky,  and  water  ;  for  there  is  no  money 
in  it. 

"  You  must  not  distract  your  thoughts  from  the  great  pur- 
pose of  your  life  with  the  charms  of  art  and  literature. 

"  You  must  not  let  philosophy  or  religion  engross  you  dur- 
ing the  secular  time. 

"  You  must  not  allow  your  wife  or  children  to  occupy  much 
of  your  valuable  time  or  thoughts. 

"  You  must  never  permit  the  fascinations  of  friendship  to 
inveigle  you  into  making  loans,  however  small. 


"POOR    IN    ABUNDANCE."  163 

"  You  must  abandon  all  other  ambitions  or  purposes  ;  and, 
finally — 

"  You  must  be  prepared  to  sacrifice  ease  and  all  fanciful 
notions  you  may  have  about  tastes  and  luxuries  and  enjoyments, 
during  most,  if  not  all,  of  your  natural  life. 

"  If  you  think  the  game  is  worth  the  candle,  you  can  die 
rich — some  of  you  can.  But  here  comes  in  an  unfortunate 
fact,  which,  if  disagreeable,  must  be  ascribed  to  Omnipotence, 
not  to  me.  It  is  this  :  The  surplus  yearly  production  of  all 
these  United  States  amounts  to  but  one  thousand  millions.  It 
is  clear,  then,  that  only  one  thousand  of  our  people  can  by  any 
possibility  grasp  a  million  a  year." 

If  one  can  get  a  million  only  in  that  way,  he  gives  more  than 
he  gets.  It  costs  more  than  it  comes  to.  That  man  is  a  fail- 
ure who  sacrifices  a  two-million  palace  of  manhood  for  a  one- 
million  prison  of  covetousness,  even  though  it  has  golden  locks. 

It  is  the  aside  remarks  that  let  in  light  upon  men's  charac- 
ters. A  worldly-minded  Sunday-school  superintendent,  being 
about  to  go  to  Europe  on  business,  addressed  the  school  on  the 
Sunday  before  his  departure.  He  waxed  fervent  as  he  depicted 
the  horrors  of  the  sea  voyage,  the  risk  of  life,  the  separation 
from  friends  and  home,  and  the  possibility  that  he  would  never 
see  them  again.  "  Oh,  children,"  said  he,  "  it  is  dreadful  to 
think  of.  Nothing  but  MONEY  would  induce  me  to  do  it." 

Lest  any  one  should  think  such  selfishness  monopolized  by 
the  rich,  let  me  give  the  twin  of  that  "  money"  story  from  the 
annals  of  the  poor  : 

"  Oh,  Kitty,  look  here  !    The  Greyfriars'  Church  is  on  fire  !" 

"  Is  that  a',  miss  ?  What  a  fricht  ye  geed  me  !  I  thought 
ye  said  the  parlor  fire  was  out. ' ' 

I  reckon  that  man  among  the  failures  who  forgets  that  he 
controls  property  only  as  a  trustee  for  humanity.  No  one 
should  count  aught  of  the  things  that  he  possesses  as  his  own, 
except  his  sins.  Each  man  of  property  is  God's  trustee  to  dis- 
pense what  he  has  to  every  man  as  he  has  need.  Hear  Job 
rendering  the  report  of  his  trusteeship  :  "  I  delivered  the  poor 


164  SUCCESSFUL  MEtf   OF  TO-DAY. 

that  cried,  and  the  fatherless,  and  him  that  had  none  to  help 
him.  The  blessing  of  him  that  was  ready  to  perish  came  upon 
me,  and  I  caused  the  widow's  heart  to  sing  for  joy."  * 
Joaquin  Miller  says  of  such  a  philanthropist  :  j- 

"  I  reckon  him  greater  than  any  man 

That  ever  drew  sword  in  war  ; 
I  reckon  him  nobler  than  king  or  khan, 
Braver  and  better  by  far. 

'*  And  wisest  he  in  this  whole  wide  land 

Of  hoarding  till  bent  and  gray  ; 
For  all  you  can  hold  in  your  cold  dead  hand 
Is  what  you  have  given  away." 

"  Whoso  hath  the  world's  goods  and  beholdeth  his  brother 
in  need,  and  shutteth  up  his  compassion- from  him,  how  doth 
the  love  of  God  abide  in  him  ?"  Chanty  was  solicited  from  a 
rich  man  as  a  loan  to  the  Lord.  He  replied,  "  The  security, 
no  doubt,  is  good,  and  the  interest  liberal  ;  but  I  cannot  give 
such  long  credit."  Within  two  weeks  he  heard  the  summons, 
"  Thou  fool  !  this  night  thy  soul  shall  be  required  of  thee." 

The  rich  man's  charity,  in  many  cases,  needs  to  begin  at 
home,  in  giving  living  wages  to  his  employes.  \  Let  a  railroad 
king  pay  his  workmen  enough  to  live  on  before  he  shows  off 
his  generosity  in  the  transportation  of  obelisks  from  land  to 
land.  New  York  merchants  who  subscribe  hundreds  of  dollars 
for  districts  devastated  by  fire  or  famine  or  cyclone  might  well 
turn  their  attention  to  their  own  half-starved,  ill-clad  seam- 
stresses, who  are  paid  (according  to  the  Examiner  and  Chron- 
icle) thirty-five  cents  for  making  the  best  and  heaviest  of  over- 
coats, twenty-eight  cents  for  handsome  spring  overcoats,  six 
to  ten  cents  a  pair  for  pants,  seventy-five  cents  a  dozen  for 

*  Job  29  : 12,  13.     See   also  Lev.  35  :  35  ;  Deut.  15  :  7,  8,  10  ; 
24  : 6  ;  Ps.  41  : 1  ;  Prov.  3  :  27  ;  14  :  31  ;  17  :  5  ;  25  : 1  ;  29  :  7. 
f  Peter  Cooper, 
j  Prov.  14  :  21,  31  ;  22  :  22. 


"POOH    Itf    ABUKDAKCE."  165 

calico  wrappers,  and  about  a  dollar  and  a  half  for  complete 
suits  for  ladies  ;  while  cash -girls  get  from  seventy-five  cents  to 
a  dollar  and  a  half  per  week,  and  "  must  come  neatly  dressed." 
In  a  recent  :senuon,  Dr.  Lorrimer,  of  Chicago,  said  that  "  there 
are  employers  who,  by  fines  and  other  tortuosities  of  trade,  rob 
shop-girls  of  what  they  have  really  earned.  They  have  no 
appeal.  Law  is  too  expensive  a  luxury  for  them.  To  such  a 
height  had  this  systematic  plundering  of  poor  shop-girls  grown 
in  Neio  York,  several  years  ago,  that  a  protection  society  was 
formed  by  some  benevolent  people,  and  in  the  first  year  of  its  ex- 
istence $5000  was  restored  to  the  victims  ofuvarice.  Since  then 
it  has  proved  an  inestimable  blessing  to  these  defenseless  ones. 
It  is  also  well  known  that  in  some  pursuits,  and  in  some  where 
the  girls  are  expected  to  dress  well,  their  wages  are  totally  inade- 
quate to  the  necessities  of  life.  If  they  live  decently  at  all, 
means  must  come  from  other  sources." 

What  is  that  but  refined  cannibalism,  the  strong  devouring 
the  weak,  killing  them  by  inches  ?  There  are  millionaires  who 
are  only  Robin  Hoods  in  disguise,  believing 

"  That  they  should  take  who  have  the  power, 
And  they  should  keep  who  can." 

The  prodigal  seems  at  first  sight  to  have  the  virtue  ot  gen- 
erosity, whatever  else  he  may  lack,  but  he  is  really  first  cousin 
to  the  miser.  Both  use  their  money  for  selfish  gratification. 
The  miser's  selfishness  is  less  harmful  than  the  prodigal's,  for 
it  destroys  no  one  but  himself. 

Real  generosity  would  not  have  impoverished,  but  rather 
enriched  the  prodigal.*  "  He  that  giveth  to  the  poor  lendeth 
unto  the  Lord,  and  He  will  pay  him  again. ' ' 

A  Christian  young  man  married  on  $300  a  year,  and  lived 
economically  in  one  room.  During  that  year  he  subscribed 
$300  toward  building  a  church.  His  penurious  father  shook 
his  head  disapprovingly,  but  the  son  said  that  he  could  and 

*  Prov.  3  :  9,  10  ;  11  :  25  ;  14  :  21 ;  22  :  9  ;  Isa.  32  :  8  ;  58  : 10,  11. 


166  SUCCESSFUL  MEK   OF   TO-DAY. 

should  pay  it,  not  in  one  year,  of  course,  but  in  time,  by  rigid 
economy.  The  next  year  his  wages  were  doubled,  and  by  liv- 
ing on  the  same  scale  as  before  he  paid  his  subscription  in  one 
year.  His  conscientious  fidelity  was  soon  heard  of,  and  he  got 
$1500  salary,  and  at  length  $4000,  but  kept  on  giving  as  gen- 
erously as  at  first. 

This  is  not  an  exception,  but  a  specimen.  True  generosity  is 
one  of  the  secrets  of  financial  success.  * '  The  liberal  soul  shall 
be  made  fat,  and  he  that  watereth  shall  be  watered  also  him- 
self." "  He  that  saveth  his  life  shall  lose  it."  Unconsciously 
a  leading  Chicago  merchant  echoes  that  Bible  verse  by  giving 
as  one  of  the  chief  causes  of  business  failures,  "  The  willing- 
ness to  sacrifice  everything  for  self."  Get,  save,  give. 

The  prodigal  also  illustrates  the  fact  that  success  is  one  of  the 
frequent  causes  of  ultimate  failure.  All  are  familiar  with  the 
frequent  ruin  wrought  by  inherited  wealth.  "  Easy  come,  easy 
go."  A  young  German  in  Pennsylvania  went  through  a  for- 
tune of  $26,000  in  five  months.  Most  of  those  who  die  rich 
were  born  poor,  and  most  of  those  who  were  born  rich  do  not 
die  rich.  "  Wealth  gotten  by  vanity  shall  be  diminished  ; 
but  he  that  gathereth  by  labor  shall  increase."  "  The  invari- 
able condition  of  safety  for  riches,"  says  Mr.  Beecher,  **  is 
that  you  shall  have  earned  them  by  an  equivalent,  and  by  such 
patience  as  involves  discipline  and  education." 

Acquired  wealth  also  turns  all  except  strong  heads  and  hearts. 
"  Success  is  often  a  cause  of  failure,"  says  a  prominent 
Brooklyn  merchant.  You  can  find  a  hundred  men  who  can 
stand  up  manfully  under  adversity  to  one  that  can  bear  pros- 
perity and  resist  its  destroying  extravagances  and  its  tempta- 
tions to  neglect  business.  * '  The  prosperity  of  fools  shall  de- 
stroy them."  *  "  His  plenty  made  him  poor."  "  The  bun- 
dle was  pressed  hard,  but  the  knot  was  left  loose."  The  lamp 
was  well  lighted,  but  was  not  kept  filled.  The  field  was  care- 
fully watched  until  the  harvest,  and  then  left  to  the  jackals. 

*  Bead  also  Ps.  49  :  10-13. 


"POOR    IN    ABUNDANCE. "  167 

"  However  easy  it  may  be  found  to  make  money, "  says  P. 
T.  Barnum,  "it  is  the  most  difficult  thing  in  the  world  to 
keep  it."  Fortune  often  leads  to  folly.  Only  eagles'  eyes 
can  bear  the  full  blaze  of  the  sun  unharmed.  Money  often 
makes  the  mare — run  away  with  you. 

Nothing  succeeds  like  success,  and  nothing  fails  like  it. 
John  Tobin,  ex-president  of  the  Hudson  River  Railroad,  and 
at  one  time  a  power  in  Wall  Street,  was  arrested  recently  near 
the  Staten  Island  Ferry  for  drunkenness.  Formerly  a  million- 
aire and  a  man  whose  operations  set  the  Stock  Exchange  in  an 
uproar  and  influenced  speculation  all  over  the  country,  he  has 
become  an  utter  wreck  physically  as  well  as  financially.  In  the 
days  of  his  prosperity  his  speculative  schemes  were  on  the  scale 
of  those  of  Cornelius  Vanderbilt  and  Daniel  Drew,  and  he  dealt 
in  shares  by  the  hundred  thousand.  Now  he  is  little  better 
than  a  beggar,  and  the  police  say  that  he  is  rarely  seen  sober. 
The  prodigal  story  over  again — a  full  purse,  a  full  glass,  failure. 
It  is  well  said  by  one  of  our  college  presidents,  in  naming  ele- 
ments of  success,  that  "  a  man  should  act  on  the  principle  that 
devotion  and  application  to  duty  are  as  essential  after  success  is 
secured  as  before. ' ' 


XVIII. 
HOW   TO    FAIL. 

Take  this  for  your  motto  at  the  commencement  of  your  journey, 
that  the  difference  of  going  just  right  or  a  little  wrong  will  be  the  differ- 
ence of  finding  yourself  in  good  quarters  or  in  a  miserable  bog  or 
slough  at  the  end  of  it. — AMOS  LAWKENCE. 

I  never  was  canny  for  hoarding  o'  money, 

Or  claughtint  together  at  a',  man  ; 
I've  little  to  spend,  and  naething  to  lend, 
But  deevil  a  shilling  I  awe,  man. — BURNS. 

THE  beginning  of  the  prodigal's  ruin  was  bad  company,  one 
of  the  most  frequent  roots  of  failure  to-day.  "  He  that  fol- 
loweth  vain  persons  shall  have  poverty  enough."  *  "  First 
harlots,  then  husks. ' '  f 

One  needs  to  exercise  great  care,  first  of  all,  in  making  up 
his  business  "  company,"  that  he  may  secure  honest,  efficient, 
congenial  partners.  "  An  owl  and  an  eagle,  starting  on  a 
hunting  expedition,  the  owl  wanted  to  hunt  by  night  and  the 
eagle  by  day.  They  concluded,  at  last,  that  by  separating  they 
could  cover  both  day  and  night,  and  both  hunt  better. ' '  J 

It  is  quite  as  important  that  a  man  have  the  right  kind  of 
company  outside  of  business  hours.  It  is  written  of  the  im- 
prisoned apostles,  "  Being  let  go,  they  went  unto  their  own 
company."  When  a  man  is  "  let  go"  from  business,  he  always 
goes  to  "  his  own  company."  You  can  tell  what  kind  of  a 
man  he  is  by  the  company  he  keeps  in  his  free  hours.  Every 
Judas  "  goes  to  his  own  place,"  even  in  this  world. 

*  Bead  also  Prov.  23  :  20,  21  ;  12  :  11  ;  13  :  20  ;  28  :  19. 
f  Prov.  6  :  26,  27  ;  13  :  25  ;  7  :  22,  etc.;   9  :  18  ;   23  :  34. 
Austin  Bierbroweiii 


HOW    TO    FAIL.  169 

A  man  is  not  merely  revealed  by  the  company  he  keeps. 
He  is  made  more  and  more  like  it.  "  Who  lies  down  with 
dogs  rises  with  fleas."  They  forget  this  who  allow  innocent 
boys  and  girls  to  work  in  our  prison-shops  side  by  side  with 
the  convicts.  Law  should  say  to  Greed,  "  Thou  shalt  not." 

Strange  that  rich  young  men  do  not  see  more  clearly  the 
purpose  of  the  flattering  rascals  who  spaniel  them  at  heels. 
"  Dogs  wag  their  tails  not  so  much  in  love  of  you  as  of  your 
bread."* 

The  prodigal's  ruin  was  of  course  hastened  by  gambling,  for 
who  ever  became  a  victim  of  wine  and  women  and  not  of 
gambling  also  ?  The  record  of  nearly  all  gamblers  and  specu- 
lators since  the  world  began  may  be  put  in  four  words  :  Every- 
thing ventured,  nothing  had.  Treasures  of  wickedness  profit 
— 0,  in  a  very  literal  sense  in  most  cases,  and  in  a  spiritual  sense 
always.  How  many  firms  that  have  been  doing  a  good  busi- 
ness haVe  suddenly  and  surprisingly  collapsed  !  Why  ?  Every- 
body knows  before  the  particulars  are  given  that  some  of  the 
firm  have  been  secretly  gambling  in  stocks. 

"  One  of  the  firms  involved  by  the  failure  of  Follett,  the 
note-broker,  is  reported  to  have  been  clearing  a  hundred  thou- 
sand dollars  a  year  on  stoves  and  heaters,  but  it  appears  that 
notes  to  twice  this  amount  had  been  put  into  the  broker's 
hands  to  cover  some  operations  of  one  of  the  firm  in  the  grain 
market.  A  man  has  a  right  to  do  what  he  will  with  his  own, 
but  the  tendency  to  miscellaneous  speculation  akin  to  gambling 
is  so  general  among  Americans  that  sooner  or  later  all  business 
men  should  exact  of  their  customers  a  pledge  that  none  of  the 
capital  claimed  in  statements  made  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining 
credit  shall  be  diverted  from  the  business,  either  directly  or  by 
loan,  to  any  member  of  the  firm,  for  use  in  outside  operations. 
Such  pledges  would  sometimes  be  broken,  but  not  without  per- 
manent disgrace  to  the  business  reputation  of  those  making 
them."  f 

*  Prov.  14  :  20  ;  19  :  4,  6.  f  New  York  Herald. 


170  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

Bad  habits  of  other  sorts  co-operate  with  gambling  in  accom- 
plishing a  man's  failure.  Almost  every  reply  to  the  question 
about  causes  of  failure  gives  "  bad  habits"  a  leading  part.  On 
those  who  catch  "  larks"  the  sky  falls. 

11  Would  you  like  to  know  how  I  was  enabled  to  serve  my 
country  ?"  said  Admiral  Farragut  on  one  occasion.  "  It  was 
all  owing  to  a  resolution  I  formed  when  I  was  ten  years  of  age. 
My  father  was  sent  down  to  New  Orleans,  with  the  little  navy 
we  then  had,  to  look  after  the  treason  of  Burr.  I  accompanied 
him  as  cabin- boy.  I  had  some  qualities  that  I  thought  made  a 
man  of  me.  I  could  swear  like  an  old  salt,  could  drink  a  stiff 
glass  of  grog  as  if  I  had  doubled  Cape  Horn,  and  could  smoke 
like  a  locomotive.  I  was  great  at  cards,  and  fond  of  gaming 
in  every  shape.  At  the  close  of  the  dinner  one  day,  my  father 
turned  everybody  out  of  the  cabin,  locked  the  door,  and  said  to 
me  : 

"  '  David,  what  do  you  intend  to  be  ? ' 

"  '  I  mean  to  follow  the  sea.' 

u  '  Follow  the  sea  !  Yes,  be  a  poor,  miserable,  drunken 
sailor  before  the  mast,  kicked  and  cuffed  about  the  world,  and 
die  in  some  fever  hospital  in  a  foreign  clime.' 

"  '  No,'  I  said,  *  I'll  tread  the  quarter-deck  and  command, 
as  you  do. ' 

"  '  No,  David,  no  boy  ever  trod  the  quarter-deck  with  such 
principles  as  you  have,  and  such  habits  as  you  exhibit.  You'll 
have  to  change  your  whole  course  of  life,  if  you  become  a 
man.' 

"  My  father  left  me  and  went  on  deck.  I  was  stung  by  the 
rebuke  and  overwhelmed  with  mortification.  '  A  poor,  miser- 
able, drunken  sailor  before  the  mast,  kicked  and  cuffed  about 
the  world,  and  to  die  in  some  fever  hospital  !  '  That's  my 
fate,  is  it  ?  I'll  change  my  life,  and  change  it  now.  I  will 
never  utter  another  oath  ;  I  will  never  drink  another  drop  of 
intoxicating  liquors  ;  I  will  never  gamble.  And,  as  God  is  my 
witness,  I  have  kept  those  vows  to  this  hour. ' ' 

Side  by  side  with  Farragut's  greatest  victory — over  himself 


HOW    TO    FAIL.  171 

— which  led  to  his  other  triumphs,  glance  at  the  wreck  of  the 
great  pianist  and  composer,  Alfred  H.  Pease,  who  was  unex- 
celled in  his  department,  and  yet  died  of  intemperance  in  St. 
Louis,  where  he  had  been  concealing  himself  and  living  in  a 
continual  drunken  debauch  for  a  long  time.  Alas  that  even 
such  a  red  light  of  awful  warning  as  that  will  deter  only  a  few 
young  men  from  taking  the  same  route  to  ruin  !  Only  along 
the  track  whose  rails  are  God's  laws  for  the  body  and  mind, 
can  any  one  ride  to  success. 

One  day,  about  five  o'clock,  Mr.  H.  B.  Claflin  was  sitting 
alone  in  his  private  office,  when  a  young  man,  pale  and  care- 
worn, timidly  knocked  and  entered. 

"  Mr.  Claflin,"  said  he,  "I  am  in  need  of  help.  I  have 
been  unable  to  meet  certain  payments  because  certain  parties 
have  not  done  as  they  agreed  by  me,  and  I  would  like  to  have 
ten  thousand  dollars.  I  come  to  you  because  you  were  a 
friend  to  my  father,  and  I  thought  you  might  be  a  friend  to 
me." 

"  Come  in,"  said  Claflin  ;  "  come  in  and  have  a  glass  of 
•wine." 

"  No,"  said  the  young  man  ;  "  I  don't  drink." 

"  Have  a  cigar,  then  ?" 


"  Well,"  said  the  joker,  "  I  would  like  to  accommodate 
you,  but  I  don't  think  I  can." 

"  Very  well,"  said  the  young  man,  as  he  was  about  to  leave 
the  room  ;  "  I  thought  perhaps  you  might.  Good-day,  sir." 

"  Hold  on,"  said  Mr.  Claflin.     "  You  don't  drink  ?" 

"No." 

44  Nor  smoke  ?" 

"No." 

"  Nor  gamble,  nor  anything  of  the  kind  ?" 

"  No,  sir  ;  I  am  superintendent  of  the Sunday-school." 

u  Well,"  said  Mr.  Claflin,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  too,  "  you 
shall  have  it,  and  three  times  the  amount  if  you  wish.  Your 
father  let  me  have  five  thousand  dollars  once,  and  asked  me  the 


172'  SUCCESSFUL   MEtf   OF   TO-DAY. 

same  questions.  He  trusted  me,  and  I  will  trust  you.  No 
thanks.  I  owe  you  for  your  father's  trust." 

Bad  habits  interfere  with  success  by  weakening  and  shorten- 
ing life,  and  also  because  they  lead  to  crime  rather  than  indus- 
try. "  Can  one  go  on  hot  coals  and  his  feet  not  be  burned  ?"  * 
Of  1518  prisoners  in  Sing  Sing  in  1880,  only  269  claimed  to  be 
total  abstainers,  and  only  150  did  not  use  tobacco. 

It  is  a  great  wrong  that  the  State  allows  even  its  youngest 
prisoners  a  paper  and  plug  of  tobacco  per  week,  and  thus  be- 
comes itself  a  teacher  of  bad  habits.  That  which  killed  Del- 
monico  and  Hill  and  Carpenter  is  given  by  the  State  to  its 
prisoners. 

The  Sing  Sing  prison  report  for  1880  shows  that  beer  ranks 
only  second  to  whiskey  as  a  recruiting  officer  of  crime,  for  the 
prison  contained  115  Germans  and  138  Irishmen.  Bad  habits 
impede  success  also  by  their  expensiveness.  "  He  that  loveth 
wine  and  oil  shall  not  be  rich."  A  Chicago  clerk,  complaining 
of  his  small  salary  ($60  per  month),  declared  that  he  was  not 
able  to  live  and  dress  decently  upon  that  sum.  That  same 
evening  he  invited  three  men  to  drink  with  him  at  the  bar  of  a 
prominent  hotel,  where  he  paid  sixty  cents  for  whiskey  without 
a  moment's  hesitation  or  a  word  of  complaint. 

That  young  man  had  learned  the  secret  of  becoming  a 
nobody.  "It  is  easy  to  be  nobody,  and  we  will  tell  you  how 
to  do  it.  Go  to  the  drinking  saloon  to  spend  your  leisure 
time.  You  need  not  drink  much  now  :  just  a  little  beer  or 
some  other  drink.  In  the  mean  time  play  dominoes,  checkers, 
or  something  else  to  kill  time,  so  that  you  will  be  sure  not  to 
read  any  useful  books.  If  you  read  anything,  let  it  be  the 
dime  novel  of  the  day.  Thus  go  on,  keeping  your  stomach  full 
and  your  head  empty,  and  yourself  playing  time-killing  games, 
and  in  a  few  years  you'll  be  nobody,  unless  you  should  turn 
out  a  drunkard  or  a  professional  gambler,  either  of  which  is 
worse  than  nobody." 

*  Bead  Prov.  8  :  35,  36  ;  13  : 14. 


HOW    TO    FAIL.  173 

The  bad  habit  of  unpunctuality  is  almost  a  vice,  and  alto- 
gether a  millstone  on  one's  business  prospects.  Better  late 
than  never,  but  best  of  all  to  be  never  late  ;  worst  of  all  to  be 
always  behind. 

Dishonesty  is  only  second  to  dissipation  among  causes  of 
failure.  Want  of  character  leads  to  want  of  cash  and  cus- 
tomers. A  greenbacker  declares,  in  speaking  of  failures,  that 
the  nation  needs  a  change  of  pecuniary  diet.  What  we  really 
need  is  to  make  a  wise  and  honest  use  of  the  money  that  we 
have. 

Among  the  mice  that  nibble  away  success  are  "  little  tricks 
of  trade,"  "  dishonesty  in  little  things,"  * '  untruthf uluess. " 
"  To  lie  is  to  jump  from  a  house-top."  What  blindness  to 
save  a  dollar  and  lose  a  customer.  There  was  pathos  in  the 
Scotchman's  word  to  his  son,  "  Honesty  is  the  best  policy  ; 
I  hae  tried  baith. ' '  Honesty  is  the  only  policy,  or  as  the  thief 
said,  after  years  of  eating  the  ashen  apples  of  dishonesty, 
"  God  Almighty  has  lixed  things  in  this  world  so  that  it  pays 
to  do  right."  Let  us  prevent  rather  than  repent. 

It  is  as  natural  to  go  by  degrees  from  the  "  tricks  of  trade" 
to  the  frauds  of  trade,  as  from  childhood  to  manhood.  The 
Christian  man  whose  conscience  surrenders  to  the  common 
deceptions  is  on  the  straight  road  to  uncommon  rascalities. 
"  Tricks  of  trade"  are  the  seed  of  which  frauds  are  the  fruit. 
"  Do  men  gather  grapes  of  thorns,  or  figs  of  thistles  ?" 

Of  course  debt  helped  the  prodigal  out  of  his  palace  into  the 
swine  pasture.  He  lacked  courage  to  say  "  No"  when  a 
drinking  friend  wanted  him  to  endorse  a  note  for  a  larger 
amount  than  he  was  able  to  lose.  He  remembered  but  dis- 
regarded God's  warning,  "  He  that  hateth  suretyship  is  sure. "  * 
"  He'll  soon  be  a  beggar  that  canna  say  Na. "  "  The  borrower 
is  servant  to  the  lender. " 

When  his  income  decreased  his  style  did  not.  He  was 
stranded  by  seeking  to  be  a  big  fish  still  after  his  ocean  had 

*  Head  Prov.  6  :  1-5  ;  11  :  15  ;  22  :  22,  28. 


174  SUCCESSFUL  MEN"   OF  TO-DAY. 

shrunk  to  a  pond.  He  bought  on  the  security  of  future  hopes, 
his  assets  being  unhatched  chickens  and  castles  in  Spain.  It 
is  wise  sometimes  to  have  a  debt,  a  mortgaged  home,  for 
instance,  as  an  incentive  for  saving,  but  as  a  rule  it  is  better  to 
go  supperless  to  bed  than  to  rise  in  debt.  "  He  that  goes  a 
borrowing  goes  a  sorrowing. ? '  There  is  at  least  a  grain  of 
wholesome  warning  in  the  cruel  proverb,  "  He  who  lends 
money  to  a  friend  loses  both." 

At  any  rate  it  is  a  good  rule,  Never  indorse  a  note  for  more 
than  you  can  afford  to  lose.  Always  hope  for  the  best,  but  be 
ready  for  the  worst.  A  wise  young  man  will  refuse  to  let  his 
parents  or  employers  set  him  up  in  business  and  in  debt.  He 
will  learn  the  value  of  money  by  earning  it  and  avoid  "the 
rock  of  excessive  credit,"  on  which,  says  Amos  Lawrence,  *'  so 
many  business  men  are  broken. ' ' 

While  debt  was  hurrying  the  prodigal  out  of  his  fine  home, 
extravagance  pushed  him  on  the  faster.  "  Extravagance  in 
family  living,"  through  pride  that  goeth  before  destruction, 
was  one  of  his  causes  of  failure.  "  We  are  taxed  twice  as 
heavily  by  our  pride  as  by  the  state."  "  The  table  robs  more 
than  the  thief."  "  It  is  the  eyes  of  others,  not  our  own,  that 
ruin  us. ' '  The  candle  is  soon  consumed  that  is  burned  at  both 
ends  by  neglect  of  both  income  and  outcome.  "  Wilful  waste 
makes  woeful  want."  "Waste  not,  want  not."  A  man  of 
sixty  begged  fifty  cents  of  a  friend  to  pay  for  a  day's  food  for 
his  family.  A  few  years  before  he  was  in  receipt  of  $2500  per 
year,  but  spent  all  he  made.  "  Store  is  no  sore."  Little  and 
often  fills  the  safe.  Young  men  especially  should  economize 
to  get  a  little  capital  so  that  they  may  be  able  to  do  business 
for  themselves.  "  He  that  hath  a  sword  let  him  take  it ;  and 
he  that  hath  no  sword  let  him  sell  his  garment  and  buy  one. " 

There  is  one  servant  that  can  work  seven  days  a  week  with- 
out breaking  the  fourth  commandment,  and  seven  nights  as 
well,  and  that  does  not  even  take  a  summer  vacation,  namely, 
invested  money.  To  exceed  your  income  a  dollar  per  month  is 
misery  ;  to  save  a  dollar  a  month  from  it  is  progress.  * i  The 


HOW    TO    FAIL.  175 

secret  of  success,"  says  Emerson,  "lies  never  in  the  amount 
of  money,  but  in  the  relation  of  income  to  outgo." 

Some  of  the  causes  of  failure  given  in  the  replies  I  have 
received,  besides  those  already  mentioned,  are  the  following  : 
"Lack  of  independence  of  character  and  self-reliance." 
"  Lack  of  will  power  and  application."  "  Lack  of  managing 
power."  "Depending  on  others  and  waiting  for  opportuni- 
ties. "  "  Neglect  of  details. "  "  Want  of  watchfulness  in  the 
whole  sphere  of  personal  action."  "Self-conceit."  "  Pre- 
suming on  one's  own  smartness."  "Undertaking  more  than 
one  has  capacity  for."  "  Fickleness."  "  Weakness  of  body 
and  mind."  "  Lack  of  education."  [I  know  of  a  man  in 
Brooklyn  who  would  have  been  promoted  to  the  management 
of  the  business  where  he  had  long  worked  faithfully,  but  for 
the  fact  that  he  could  neither  read  nor  write.  He  had  been 
kept  from  school  as  a  boy  to  earn  three  dollars  a  week  and  is 
now  paying  for  his  parents'  mistake  twenty-five  dollars  a  week 
by  the  loss  of  this  position.]  Other  causes  of  failure  are 
"Lack  of  definite  purpose."  "Unreliability."  "Lack  of 
good  judgment."  "Lack  of  capacity,  knack,  adaptation." 
"  Indolence."  "  An  easy  temporizing  disposition."  "  Care- 
lessness and  rashness."  "  Lack  of  enterprise  to  keep  pace 
with  improved  methods."  "  Not  studying  human  nature  and 
adapting  business  to  it."  "Lack  of  system."  "Trusting 
others  too  much  and  trusting  too  much  to  others."  ("  Confi- 
dence in  an  unfaithful  man  in  time  of  trouble  is  like  a  broken 
tooth  and  a  fgot  out  of  joint.")  "Lack  of  faithfulness  in 
humble  places,"  which  last  reminds  me  that  Rev.  John  Hall  has 
said  that  the  best  way  out  of  a  lowly  position  is  to  make  your- 
self conspicuously  efficient  in  it.  The  boy  or  man  that  is 
wanted  is  the  one  who  "  can't  be  spared."  Many  a  man  has 
taken  the  highest  seat  too  soon  and  so  at  length  has  been  called 
to  change  places  with  some  one  who  more  humbly  began  at  the 
lowest  room  and  worked  up.  "  Before  honor  is  humility." 

The  prodigal's  bad  company,  bad  habits,  debts,  and  extrava- 
gance at  length  made  him  a  pauper,  and  he  who  had  been  the 


176  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

Oscar  Wilde  of  city  parlors,  hired  himself  out  to  herd  swine. 
Even  they  were  better  fed  than  he.  ' '  The  way  of  trans- 
gressors is  hard."  He  had  sowed  his  wild  oats  merrily,  but 
harvesting  them  in  loathsome  diseases  and  hunger  of  body, 
in  remorse  of  conscience,  in  loneliness  and  disgrace,  was  not 
quite  so  pleasant.  ''Be  sure  your  sin  will  find  you  out." 
Then  you  will  understand  what  was  said  by  a  prisoner  who 
had  suffered  much  in  body,  but  more  in  mind,  "  My  worst 
punishment  is  in  being  what  I  am."  The  prodigals  of  to- 
day learn  by  the  same  painful  object  lessons  of  experience 
the  unutterable  stupidity  of  wicked  and  dishonest  ways,  which 
ruin  body,  mind,  credit,  reputation,  and  the  soul. 


XIX. 

THE   BRIGHT  SIDE   OF   FAILURE. 

Tu  ne  cede  malis  sed  contra  audientor  vite. — VIKGIL. 

Content  takes  shelter  in  his  cottage. — SHAKESPEARE. 

His  best  companions  Innocence  and  Health, 

And  his  best  riches  ignorance  of  wealth. — GOLDSMITH. 
I  do  believe  God  wanted  a  grand  poem  from  that  man,  and  so 
blinded  him  that  he  might  be  able  to  write  it. — GEOKGE  MACDONALD 
on  Milton, 

BUT  there  is  a  hopeful  side  even  to  failure.  As  success  is 
one  of  the  ways  to  failure,  so  failure  is  one  of  the  ways  to  suc- 
cess— not  referring  to  those  who  get  rich  by  dishonest  bank- 
ruptcies. The  prodigal  was  nearer  true  success  when  he  sat  in 
the  swine  pasture,  a  ragged  bankrupt,  than  when  he  revelled  in 
his  costly  vices.  "  If  they  had  not  perished,"  said  a  man  of 
his  business  enterprises,  "I  should  have  perished."  It  had 
cost  him  his  money  to  save  his  morals,  but  "  the  life  is  more 
than  meat."  It  was  money  or  your  life,  and  he  had  saved  his 
soul-life  in  the  loss  of  his  money. 

But  even  in  a  worldly  point  of  view,  failure  often  leads  to 
success,  by  rousing  a  man  to  greater  energy,  or  leading  him  to 
greater  watchfulness,  or  putting  him  in  a  more  suitable  place. 

A  man  who  weighs  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  on  the 
earth  would  weigh  only  two  pounds  on  the  planet  Mars,  and  so 
could  hardly  stand  ;  while  on  the  sun  he  would  weigh  two  tons 
and  so  would  sink,  like  a  stone  in  the  sea,  into  its  hot  marshes. 
Each  man  is  too  light  for  some  places,  too  heavy  for  others, 
and  just  right  for  others.  Failing  in  a  work  for  which  he  is 
unfitted  often  brings  him  to  his  true  place.  Judge  Tourgee's 


178  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

failure  as  a  reconstruction  lawyer,   as  I  have  said,  led  to  his 
success  as  a  great  novelist  and  editor. 

Bankruptcies  are  very  rare  in  our  prosperous  land,  only  1 
out  of  each  128  dealers  in  1881=3597  out  of  869,000.* 

There  are  failures  and  failures.  We  need  to  note  clearly  tho 
difference  between  the  man  who  fails  because  of  unforeseen 
panics  or  embezzlements,  and  the  man  who  fails  through  neg- 
lect, or  of  set  purpose. 

' '  '  Extremes  meet, '  said  the  stump  to  the  top  of  a  tree,  as 
the  latter  was  blown  down.  ( It  is  true, '  replied  the  top,  '  that 
we  are  both  on  the  ground  ;  but  I  am  still  the  whole  length  of 
the  tree  removed  from  you.'  "  f 

"  Go  ahead,  and  if  you  fall,  up  and  at  it  again  with  a  will  and 
determination  to  succeed. "  "  The  place  to  find  your  money 
is  where  you  lost  it."  Take  the  motto  of  Alexander  H.  Ste- 
phens, tlNil  desperandum,"  or  its  equivalents,  "  Never  say 
die,'*  "  Hope  ever,"  "  Try,  try  again."  A  leading  publisher 
in  Chicago  told  me  that  he  had  been  helped  through  many  a  dark 
hour  in  business  by  the  old  Greek  motto,  "  The  gods  look  on 
no  grander  sight  than  an  honest  man  struggling  with  adver- 
sity," and  another  motto  of  his  own,  "It  is  better  to  deserve 
success  than  to  have  it."  "  Our  greatest  glory,"  says  another 
business  man,  "  is  not  in  never  falling,  but  in  rising  every  time 
we  fall."  "A  just  man  falleth  seven  times,  and  riseth  up 
again. ' ' 

Another  prominent  man  says,  after  answering  the  questions 
about  success,  "  When  I  think  what  '  might  have  been,'  if  1 
had  only  obeyed  my  own  rules,  I  am  mortified  and  depressed 
beyond  measure.  Oh,  the  comforting  thought  that  we  serve  a 
forbearing,  long-suffering  Master,  who  knoweth  our  frame, 
remembereth  we  are  dust,  and  pitieth  our  infirmities." 

So  thought  the  prodigal  as  he  arose  out  of  his  failure  and 
went  to  his  father.  All  was  not  lost,  for  hope  and  home  and  a 
father's  love  remained. 

*  New  York  Tribune.  f  Austin  Bierbrower. 


THE   BRIGHT   SIDE   OF   FAILURE.  179 

But  it  should  be  said  that  a  life  reformed,  as  was  the  prodi- 
gal's, is  not  thus  made  as  good  as  new.  The  prodigal  was  par- 
doned, but  that  did  not  restore  his  shattered  health,  his  wasted 
hours,  his  squandered  property.  The  brother  who  remained 
obediently  at  home  had  a  fine  farm,  while  the  prodigal  had 
nothing  but  the  clothes  and  food  that  were  given  him.  A 
ring,  a  robe,  a  pair  of  shoes,  a  fatted  calf — that  was  all  he  had, 
while  the  brother,  who  had  not  ruined  his  life  with  vices,  had 
a  great  estate.  Mercy  could  not  blot  out  the  penalties  of  the 
sinful  past,  but  only  its  guilt.  It  could  not  even  whiten  his 
reputation.  Credit  lost  is  like  Venice  glass  broken.  No  stra- 
tina  of  reform  will  make  it  as  good  as  new.  People  will  keep 
their  eyes  on  the  crack.  u  Shall  we  continue  in  sin  that  grace 
may  abound  ?  God  forbid. ' '  Better  than  all  the  songs  over 
returning  prodigals  is  the  quiet  assurance  of  our  Heavenly 
Father  to  those  who  go  not  astray,  but  serve  him  from  childhood, 
"  Son,  thou  art  ever  with  me,  and  all  that  I  have  is  thine." 
A  prominent  officer  of  Brooklyn  says  in  his  reply  to  the  ques- 
tions about  success  :  "  There  is  no  failure  in  this  country  with 
those  whose  personal  habits  are  good  and  who  follow  any 
honest  calling  industriously,  unselfishly,  and  purely. "  '  *  There's 
place  and  means  for  every  man  alive/' 

No  real  failure  is  possible  for  faithfulness.  Let  men  of  all 
ranks,  whether  they  seem  to  be  successful  or  unsuccessful, 
whether  they  triumph  or  not  at  first,  let  them  do  their  duty 
and  rest  satisfied.  4<  Your  labor  is  not  in  vain." 


YE  shall  not  steal,  neither  deal  falsely,  neither  lie  one  to  another. 
Ye  shall  do  no  unrighteousness  in  judgment,  in  mete-yard,  in  weight, 
or  in  measure.  Thou  shalt  not  have  divers  weights,  and  divers 
measures,  a  great  and  a  small.  For  all  that  do  such  things,  and  all 
that  do  unrighteously,  are  an  abomination  unto  the  Lord  thy  God. 
A  just  weight  and  balance  are  the  Lord's.  If  thou  sell  aught  unto 
thy  neighbor,  or  buyest  aught  of  thy  neighbor's  hand,  thou  shalt  not 
oppress  one  another.  Eemember  the  Sabbath-day  to  keep  it  holy. 
Six  days  thou  shalt  labor.  Thou  shalt  not  steal.  Thou  shalt  not 
covet.  He  that  maketh  haste  to  be  rich  shall  not  be  innocent. — Old 
Testament. 

Defraud  not. 

I  will  that  thou  affirm  constantly  that  they  who  have  believed  in 
God  be  careful  to  maintain  good  works  [i.e.,  honest  occupations]. 
These  things  are  good  and  profitable  unto  men. 

Wherefore,  putting  away  falsehood,  speak  ye  truth  each  one  with 
his  neighbor  ;  for  we  are  members  one  of  another.  Let  him  that 
stole  steal  no  more  ;  but  rather  let  him  labor,  working  with  his 
hands  the  thing  that  is  good,  that  he  may  have  whereof  to  give  to 
him  that  hath  need. — New  Testament. 

Place  a  dollar  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  bottomless  pit,  and  the 
true  Yankee  will  make  a  spring  for  it. — WENDELL  PHILLIPS. 

Sharp  dealing  and  distrust  Charles  Dickens  thought  the  worst 
vices  of  American  commercial,  political,  and  even  social  life.  Every 
man  here  is  his  own  manager  ;  every  man  his  own  protector.  It  is 
characteristic  of  our  pushing,  fairly  well-educated,  shrewd  American 
that  the  look  of  his  eye  is  :  "  Cheat  me  if  you  can. "  Far  more  often 
do  you  find  this  look  here  than  abroad.  It  is  charged  against  us  that 
we  are  more  shrewd  than  conscientious  in  the  collisions  of  trade  and 
politics.  It  is  affirmed,  and  with  some  truth,  I  fear,  that  there  is 
among  Americans  a  tendency  to  sharp  dealing  in  little  things  that  is 
not  found  in  British  and  German  society.  It  is  very  humiliating  to 
be  obliged  to  make  these  confessions  ;  but,  for  one,  I  have  come  home 
with  the  conviction  that  we  are  capable  of  a  good  deal  of  improve- 
ment in  the  matter  of  honesty  in  little  things.  An  American  may 
be,  and  usually  is,  the  soul  of  honor  in  great  things  ;  but  we  allow  an 
amount  of  sharp  dealing  in  little  things  that  would  disgrace  a  man  in 
many  circles  abroad.  Give  the  American  as  much  conscientiousness 
as  he  has  will  and  finesse,  and  I  regard  him  as  incomparably  the  no- 
blest human  creature  on  earth.  But  there  are  many  things  that  de- 
velop our  will  and  our  tendency  to  sharp  dealing  more  rapidly  than 
our  conBcientiousnesB. — JOSEPH  COOK. 


XX. 


STEALING  AS  A   FINE   ART,   AND   SOME   OF   ITS 
MODERN   ARTISTS. 

The  Tempter  has  an  Ally  in  the  world  of  traffic,  wherever  bad 
things  are  stamped  with  respectable  names  —  when,  for  instance, 
swindling  is  called  "smartness,"  and  robbery  "percentage." — 
CHAPIN. 

The  spirit  of  the  Jewish  rulers  is  rife  in  the  world  to-day,  but  the 
method  of  its  expression  is  less  honest  now  than  then.  Then  the 
rulers  said  plainly,  that  they  wanted  nothing  spoken  or  taught  in  the 
name  of  Jesus.  Now  it  is  common  for  the  enemies  of  Christ  to  say 
that  they  don't  object  to  the  "  pure  gospel  ;"  but  they  do  wish  re- 
ligious teachers  would  let  politics  alone,  and  wouldn't  be  always  harp- 
ing on  temperance,  or  applying  the  Bible  teachings  to  the  treatment 
of  the  Indian,  or  the  African,  or  the  Chinaman,  and  to  habits  of  ly- 
ing, and  of  dishonesty  in  business,  and  all  that  sort  of  thing. — 
HENBY  CLAY  TRUMBULL,  D.D. 

Who  draws  his  sword  for  empire  or  for  glory, 
Deserves  a  robber's,  not  a  hero's  name. — SCHILLEB. 

WHEN  Paul  said,  "  Let  him  that  stole  steal  no  more,  but 
rather  let  him  labor,"  he  was  only  consolidating  two  of  the  ten 
commandments  —  the  fourth  and  eighth.  One  of  these  has 
been  too  superficially  studied.  A  workman  was  dismissed  for 
breaking  the  fourth  commandment.  He  answered  in  surprise, 
"I  always  keep  the  Sabbath."  **  Yes,"  said  his  employer, 
"  but  the  fourth  commandment  says  also,  '  Six  days  shalt  thou 
labor,'  and  you  have  not  done  that."  The  idler  disobeys 
God's  law  as  surely  as  the  idolater  or  adulterer. 

In  ancient  Greece  and  Rome  it  was  considered  more  honor- 
able to  get  money  by  stealing  than  by  labor.  The  popular 


182  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

forms  of  stealing  then  were  war  and  piracy.  War  is  still  pop- 
ular. France  spends  ten  times  as  much  on  armies  as  schools. 
But  in  our  land,  where  we  spend  ten  times  as  much  for  schools 
as  on  soldiers,  those  old  forms  of  robbery  have  been  succeeded 
by  the  more  refined  and  more  extensive  robberies  of  monopoly 
and  speculation.  Stealing  has  become  a  fine  art. 

As  in  ancient  times  the  warrior  and  pirate  won  popular  ad- 
miration, while  farmers  and  mechanics  were  despised,  so  to- 
day many  young  men  bestow  their  admiration  upon  the  man 
who  can  seize  the  property  of  others  by  commercial  manoeuvres 
without  rendering  any  equivalent,  and  despise  the  slow  growth 
of  honest  industry. 

The  clumsier  forms  of  stealing  are  of  course  despised  as 
much  as  ever.  A  petty  thief  who  robs  a  lady  of  her  jewelry  in 
the  Fourth  Avenue  Tunnel  in  New  York  is  sent  to  State  Prison 
for  twelve  and  a  half  years,  for  lack  of  artistic  talent  in  his 
profession.  If  he  had  robbed  three  banks  by  embezzlements 
he  might  have  escaped  with  half  as  long  a  sentence,  as  Boice,  of 
Jersey  City,  did  on  that  same  day.  Or  if  he  had  been  a  con- 
summate artist,  like  tbe  thieves  of  the  Whiskey  Ring,  who  stole 
in  "  free  hand  style"  by  the  million,  he  might  have  kept  not 
only  his  money  but  his  social  standing.  When  the  New  York 
Times  recently  exposed  a  great  conspiracy  of  New  York  mill  • 
ionaires  to  defraud  the  public,  not  one  of  them  was  tabooed 
from  "  the  best  society"  for  being  caught  stealing,  in  consid- 
eration for  the  fact  that  it  was  done  on  a  Napoleonic  scale. 
It  is  only  to  God  and  the  godly  that  a  theft  by  any  other  name 
will  smell  as  bad. 

The  decalogue  has  been  revised  to  suit  this  phase  of  public 
sentiment  by  Arthur  Hugh  Clough  : 

"  Thou  shalt  have  one  God,  only  ;  who 
Would  be  at  the  expense  of  two  ? 
No  graven  images  may  be 
Worshipped,  save  in  the  currency  : 
Swear  not  at  all  ;  since  for  thy  curse 
Thine  enemy  is  none  the  worse  : 


STEALING   AS   A   FINE  ART.  183 

At  church  on  Sunday  to  attend 

Will  serve  to  keep  the  world  thy  friend  : 

Honor  thy  parents  ;  that  is,  all 

From  whom  advancement  may  befall  : 

Thou  shalt  not  kill  ;  but  need'st  not  strive 

Officiously  to  keep  alive  : 

Adultery  it  is  not  fit 

Or  safe  (for  woman)  to  commit : 

Thou  shalt  not  steal,  an  empty  feat, 

It  is  more  lucrative  to  cheat  : 

Bear  not  false  witness  ;  let  the  lie 

Have  time  on  its  own  wings  to  fly  : 

Thou  shalt  not  covet  ;  but  tradition 

Approves  all  forms  of  competition." 

There  are  few  highway  robberies  to-day  because  public  senti- 
ment is  against  them,  unless  they  are  done  by  wholesale  and 
spiced  with  numerous  murders,  after  the  fashion  of  Missouri's 
deceased  "  St.  James."  It  is  easier  and  safer  for  a  robber  to 
disguise  himself  as  a  hotel-keeper,  a  cab-driver,  a  shoddy  manu- 
facturer, or  a  borrower. 

Between  Jerusalem  and  Jericho  travellers  used  to  fall  among 
thieves.  Now  the  chief  of  those  same  Arabs  robs  you  in  a  less 
clumsy  fashion  by  taking  your  money  in  advance  and  artisti- 
cally calling  it  a  charge  for  escorting  you  safely  through  his  own 
tribe.  So  in  our  land  stealing  has  taken  on  new  forms.  These 
are  so  deceivingly  labelled  that  many  do  not  recognize  stealing 
when  they  see  it. 

It  is  my  business  as  one  of  the  moral  board  of  health  to  ex- 
pose these  disguised  crimes  in  society,  and  so  I  propose  to  give 
a  brief  catalogue  of  the  more  refined  forms  of  stealing,  to  put 
true  labels  in  place  of  false  ones — premising,  however,  that 
stealing  is  no  more  common  than  in  "  the  good  old  times, " 
but  more  refined. 

Speaking  for  a  moment  of  the  clumsier  thieves  who  get  into 
jail,  let  me  protest  against  the  sentimentality  which  has  lately 
encouraged  mutinies  in  jails  because  prisoners,  who  are  better 
fed,  better  clothed,  and  better  housed  than  most  of  them  were 


184  SUCCESSFUL   MEK   OF   TO-DAY. 

when  at  large,  are  compelled  to  do  two  thirds  as  much  work  as 
free  operatives  perform  in  the  same  trade.  If  prison  regula- 
tions are  so  severe,  how  is  it  that  prisoners  come  back  again  and 
again  as  long  as  they  live,  asking  for  a  six  months'  sentence  as 
the  pleasantest  way  to  get  through  a  Winter  ?  In  my  judgment 
the  prisons  err  on  the  side  of  leniency  rather  than  severity. 
The  sentences  are  too  short  and  the  privileges  in  prison  too 
many  to  keep  prisoners  from  returning.  In  1880,  147  out  of 
897  in  Auburn  State  Prison  were  there  on  a  second  visit. 

In  1880,  there  were  215  persons  confined  in  our  State  pris- 
ons for  murder  and  killing,  but  only  115  were  in  for  life.  The 
State  gives  the  rest  a  chance  to  go  out  and  kill  again.  Of  1518 
in  Sing  Sing  that  year  581  were  in  for  less  than  three  years. 
Men  who  are  known  to  make  crime  a  profession  and  have  no 
other  means  of  support  are,  by  short  sentences,  sent  out  again 
and  again  from  the  prisons  to  renew  their  trade.  Nor  after  a 
fifth  offence  but  after  a  second  should  a  man  be  declared  an 
**  habitual  criminal,"  and  locked  up  for  life  in  mercy  to  society. 
We  can  hardly  sympathize  with  most  that  is  said  about  prison 
severity  when  such  men  get  coffee  three  times  a  day  (in  Sing 
Sing),  meat  daily,  with  buns  extra  on  Sunday,  and  all  the 
dainties  their  friends  care  to  send  them.  The  only  real  punish- 
ment these  men  get,  as  the  warden  said  to  me,  is  separation 
from  wine  and  women. 

When  a  boy  was  asked  by  his  teacher  why  lightning  never 
struck  the  same  place  twice  he  answered,  "  It  never  needs  to." 
If  punishment  were  as  swift  and  severe  as  it  ought  to  be,  it 
would  never  need  to  strike  the  same  man  six  times,  as  it  does 
in  many  cases  nowadays.  Of  28,889  arrested  in  Brooklyn  in 
1881,  17,795 — about  two  thirds — were  dismissed  by  the  judges 
with  no  punishment  at  all.  Either  the  police  should  be  pun- 
ished for  making  needless  arrests  or  the  judges  for  criminal 
leniency.  The  only  way  in  which  this  leniency  of  the  courts 
seems  to  be  working  together  for  good  is  in  showing  what  sort 
of  a  world  we  should  have  if  a  Judge  too  merciful  to  punish  sat 
on  the  throne  of  the  universe. 


STEALING    AS   A   FINE   ART.  185 

Betting,  pools,  policies  and  lotteries — all  of  them  forms  of 
gambling — are  unfair  exchanges  of  nothing  for  something,  and 
therefore  robbery.  The  only  explanation  of  the  unceasing- 
prosperity  of  these  transparent  frauds  is  in  Carlyle's  concise 
census  of  the  population — "  mostly  fools."  There  is  no  fact 
which  may  be  more  solidly  relied  on  in  commercial  arrange- 
ments than  that.  He  who  caters  for  people  of  common-sense 
deals  with  the  minority.  The  quack  has  the  crowd.  "  The 
spirit  of  the  age,"  says  Samuel  Smiles,  "  is  not  that  of  the 
trader,  but  the  gambler. ' '  Anthony  Comstock  raided  one  lot- 
tery shop  in  New  York  where  1750  letters  a  day  were  received, 
including  an  average  of  $5 1*7  6  per  day  of  money.  That  was 
the  knaves'  harvest  from  the  fools. 

Wherever  a  fortune  is  offered  for  nothing  there  is  sure  to  be 
a  snake  in  the  grass.  A  wise  dog  doesn't  leave  a  bone  for  a 
shadow.  One  spring  chicken  in  hand  is  worth  a  whole  flock 
of  wild  geese  on  the  wing.  The  short-cut  of  gambling  is  the 
longest  way  around  after  all.  Better  go  about  than  fall  in  the 
ditch.  Better  a  donkey  that  carries  you  than  a  horse  that 
throws  you.  Gaming  is  the  son  of  avarice  and  the  father  of 
despair.  Sub  rosa,  thorns.  The  innocent  loses  his  own  bird 
in  hand  and  beats  the  bush  that  the  sharper  may  get  all  the 
birds.  A  great  many  old  birds  as  well  as  young  ones  are 
caught  by  the  gambler's  chaff.  The  embezzler  is  usually  first 
a  gambler. 

The  devil,  without  a  foot  of  ground  of  his  own,  offered  Christ 
all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  as  a  bribe  for  his  worship. 
Napoleon  at  a  later  day  accepted  the  same  offer,  and  died  in 
exile.  To-day  the  devil  makes  the  same  lying  offer  to  the 
gambler,  and  so  gets  him  to  cast  himself  down  to  destruction. 
This  gambling  phase  of  robbery  makes  money  enough  to  bribe 
telegraph  companies  to  become  its  accomplices  in  law-breaking, 
and  policemen  into  allowing  violations  of  the  laws,  and  it  controls 
30,000  votes  in  New  York  City.  But  it  cannot  buy  off  the  curse 
of  God  which  rests  on  all  winning  of  money  by  the  fascination  of 
chances,  without  an  exchange  of  services  or  goods,  from  church 


186  SUCCESSFUL  MEN"   OF  TO-DAY. 

fairs  to  gambling  in  stocks.  The  Roman  Catholic  Church, 
which  originated  the  African  slave-trade,  has  also  a  fearful 
responsibility  for  increasing  the  passion  for  gambling  by  estab- 
lishing lotteries  on  a  large  scale  to  build  its  cathedrals.  Prot- 
estant churches  also,  in  a  smaller  way,  have  shared  in  the  guilt 
of  encouraging  this  mad  passion  for  unearned  money.  We 
need  to  crush  this  crocodile  in  the  egg,  to  suppress  every  form 
of  winning  money  by  chances. 

The  leading  merchants  in  Chicago  have  determined  to  dis- 
charge any  clerk  who  gambles  in  "  pools,"  believing  that  no 
person  can  long  follow  the  practice  without  becoming  a  gam- 
bler and  a  swindler. 

Gambling  is  as  fascinating  as  a  rattlesnake  to  those  who  once 
begin  it.  "  The  best  throw  of  the  dice  is  to  throw  them 
away."  Let  us  avoid  the  beginnings  of  the  evil,  and  even  its 
more  respectable  forms. 

That  reminds  me  that  when  gamblers  were  generally  arrested 
in  Chicago,  they  retaliated  by  causing  the  arrest  of  stock  oper- 
ators on  the  Board  of  Trade,  claiming  that  the  latter  were 
fellow-gamblers  in  the  same  condemnation.  The  consequent 
legal  proceedings  showed  that  more  grain  was  sold  in  Chicago 
annually  than  is  raised  in  all  the  world,  and  that  most  of  the 
operators  never  handle  any  merchandise  at  all,  but  only  bet  on 
next  month's  stock  prices — how  they  will  be  affected  by  the 
death  of  a  Garfield  or  a  railroad  war. 

The  editor  of  the  New  York  Journal  of  Commerce  said  to  me 
recently  that  in  prosperous  times  ninety-seven  per  cent  of  all 
the  transactions  in  the  New  York  Produce  Exchange  are  not 
legitimate  business  but  pure  gambling.  Even  in  dull  times  the 
percentage  of  mere  betting  on  prices  is  ninety.  The  New  York 
correspondent  of  the  San  Francisco  Bulletin  says  that  of  the 
14,000  brokers  in  New  York  not  more  than  340  really  sell  any 
stocks. 

There  are  two  Wall  Streets.  One  of  them  does  the  country 
real  service  by  legitimate  speculations.  In  the  other  and  larger 
one,  vultures  of  a  feather  flock  together.  The  thief  of  the 


STEALING  AS  A   FINE  ART.  187 

wheat  "  corner"  is  no  better  than  the  thief  of  the  saloon  cor- 
ner.* Why  do  people  smile  when  told  who  lives  in  a  home 
on  the  Hudson  that  was  raised  in  honor  of  honesty  ? 

To  count  it  more  respectable  to  bet  on  prices  than  races  is  a 
distinction  without  a  difference,  or  if  there  be  a  difference,  one 
would  think  it  a  lower  business  to  bet  on  a  dead  vegetable  than 
on  a  live  animal. 

A  stock  gambler,  being  unsuccessful,  committed  suicide,  and 
left  on  his  table  a  written  copy  of  Jer.  17  :  11  :  "As  the  part- 
ridge sitteth  on  eggs,  and  hatcheth  them  not  ;  so  he  that  getteth 
riches,  and  not  by  right,  shall  leave  them  in  the  midst  of  his 
days,  and  at  his  end  shall  be  a  fool.7'  f 

Were  it  not  for  the  strength  of  the  gambling  passion,  men 
would  be  deterred  from  speculation  by  the  large  proportion  who 
fail  in  it.  William  H.  Vanderbilt  recently  said  to  a  legislative 
committee,  "  Not  one  man  in  ten  who  goes  into  Wall  Street  is 
not  a  loser  in  the  long  run.'*  In  Chicago  a  man  entered  the 
Board  of  Trade  with  $50,000,  and  in  sixty  days  left  it  penni- 
less. And  yet,  such  is  the  fascination  of  chance  and  hope,  that 
the  man  who  has  reaped  the  whirlwind  often  continues  to  sow 
the  wind,  looking  for  a  better  crop  next  time. 

The  wickedness  of  the  whole  system  of  stock  gambling  ap- 
pears in  the  fact  that  it  does  not  allow  both  parties  in  the  trans- 
action to  profit  by  it  (as  must  be  the  case  in  all  legitimate 
business),  but  one's  gain  is  simply  another's  loss.  "  To  one 
whose  beard  was  on  fire  another  said  :  *  Here  !  let  me  light  my 
pipe. '  '  We  hear  little  of  the  failures,  but  there  are  ten  times 
as  many  as  of  the  boasted  successes.  Many  go  out  for  wool 
and  come  back  shorn.  "  A  fish,  being  caught  on  a  hook, 
reproached  the  angler  for  his  cruelty.  *  Reproach  yourself, 
rather,'  said  the  angler,  *  f or  your  intended  cruelty  to  the 
worm/  "J 

Scientific  professors  make  hydrogen  bubbles  and  then  by  a 

*  See  Bible  description  of  corners  and  blind  pools,  Prov.  1  : 10-19. 
f  Prov.  15  :  6.  \  Austin  Bierbrower. 


188  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

touch  of  fire  cause  them  to  explode  with  a  bang  as  they  fly 
through  the  air.  Mark  the  bubbles  "  Options/'  "Futures," 
and  you  have  a  picture  of  Wall  Street,  where  men  are  forever 
chasing  the  bursting  bubbles  of  great  expectations. 

Many  a  history  of  Wall  Street  investments  might  be  put  into 
this  little  fable  :  "  This  is  a  Picture  of  Freddy's  Rabbits.  But 
it  is  the  Picture  of  a  Fox.  The  Fox  is  very  Fat.  Where  are 
Freddy's  Rabbits  ?" 

Dishonest  speculation  is  worse  than  useless.  It  is  wrong. 
Only  fair  exchange  is  no  robbery. 

What  a  crowd  of  well-dressed,  thieves  are  just  now  living  by 
tricks  and  swindles  !  *  "  When  there  are  five  e^gs  for  the 
penny,  four  of  them  are  rotten."  That  looks  simple  enough 
for  everybody  to  understand.  But  thousands  do  not  under- 
stand it,  and  so  respond  to  every  swindler's  offer  to  make  them 
rich  for  a  dollar.  It  requires  a  page  per  month  in  the  Ameri- 
can Agriculturist  to  give  a  brief  mention  of  the  new  humbugs 
that  are  robbing  the  people.  The  department  is  fitly  headed 
with  the  picture  of  a  lighted  lamp  to  which  the  moths  are 
flocking,  and  around  which  they  are  falling  in  death.  How 
much  it  costs  to  learn  tha£  one  sentence,  The  good  mines 
never  go  begging  for  stockholders. 

The  most  popular  and  perennially  successful  device  of  swin- 
dlers is  to  pretend  an  acquaintance  with  some  stranger  who  has 
just  reached  the  city,  and  at  last  get  him  to  exchange  some 
bogus  check  for  the  cash.  Even  the  Concord  School  of  Phi- 
losophy people  were  duped  to  the  extent  of  a  thousand  dollars 
by  this  old  trick.  Would  it  not  be  well  for  them  to  pause  in 
studying  "  the  thingness  of  the  here"  long  enough  to  learn 
some"  of  the  ordinary  tricks  of  unphilosophical  swindlers  ? 

One  of  the  worst  forms  of  modern  stealing  is  known  as  the 
rehypothecating  of  trust  funds — that  is,  the  secret  use  of  trust 
funds  for  speculation.  The  New  York  Telegram  calls  this 
"  The  Era  of  Defaulters."  The  New  York  Tribune  recently 

*  Prov.  14  : 15,  16. 


STEALING    AS  A   FINE   ART.  189 

published  the  record  of  five  great  embezzlements,  in  one  day. 
If  a  man  is  unsuccessful  in  this  style  of  stealing  and  so  is  found 
out,  he  gets  a  short  term  in  jail ;  but  if  he  succeeds  in  his  rob- 
bery and  puts  back  what  he  stole,  no  questions  are  asked  about 
how  he  got  rich  so  fast  with  so  little  money  of  his  own.  The 
man  who  speculates,  however  carefulty,  with  money  which  was 
confided  to  him  as  a  trustee  to  keep  safely,  not  to  use,  is  the 
pal  of  the  burglar — only  more  wicked,  because  he  betrays  a 
trust. 

"  An  ape  is  an  ape,  a  varlet's  a  varlet, 
Though  they  be  clad  in  silk  or  scarlet."* 

Not  only  our  courts  but  public  opinion  should  condemn  more 
severely  this  aggravated  crime. 

Thorold  Rogers' has  said,  "  The  costliest  unclean  beast  that 
society  can  keep  in  its  menagerie,  is  an  unpunished  commercial 
rogue."  Such  a  rogue  should  certainly  be  caged  behind  prison 
bars. 

But  well-dressed  thieves  are  soon  released  by  the  petitions  of 
sentimental  women  and  soft-hearted  merchants  to  soft-headed 
governors,  and  so  they  become  once  more  wild  steers  to  spread 

A 

*  "  Where  are  yon  going  ?"  said  a  gentleman  one  Sunday  to  a  prison 
chaplain.  "I'm"  going  to  preach  to  the  prisoners  in  the  peniten- 
tiary," was  the  reply.  "  A  hard  audience,"  said  the  first  speaker. 
"  Not  so  different  from  your  pastor's  fashionable  audience  as  you 
think,"  said  the  chaplain.  "  For  instance,  there  is  a  laundress  in 
the  prison  who  was  sent  there  for  rehypothecating  two  shirts  at  a 
pawn-shop  to  raise  a  little  money  to  buy  food  for  her  family.  She 
intended  to  redeem  the  shirts  in  a  day  or  two  and  send  them  to  the 
owner  at  the  usual  time,  but  the  illegal  act  was  discovered,  and  she 
was  sent  to  prison.  If  every  man  in  your  pastor's  rich  audience  who 
has  illegally  borrowed  money  on  the  security  of  trust  funds  was  sent 
to  jail,  don't  you  think  it  would  thin  out  his  audience  somewhat  ? 
And  then  there  is  a  man  in  the  prison  for  selling  cigars  that  had  not 
paid  the  revenue  tax.  Suppose  all  the  rich  ladies  in  your  pastor's 
audience  that,  on  returning  from  Europe,  have  smuggled  in  laces  and 
silks  that  were  liable  to  duty,  were  sent  to  the  penitentiary,  don't  you 
think  it  would  rather  crowd  the  woman's  department  ?" 


190  SUCCESSFUL  MEN  OF  TO-DAY. 

commercial  distrust  through  society.  If  we  made  it  hard  times 
for  defaulters  there  would  be  none  for  the  people.  Ingenious 
political  economists  attribute  the  periodical  depression  of  busi- 
ness to  the  increase  of  spots  on  the  sun.  The  real  trouble  is 
the  lack  of  stripes  on  the  defaulters. 

"  The  shameful  record  of  the  administration  of  the  insurance 
receivers  of  New  York,  as  laid  bare  by  the  New  York  Herald, 
shows  that  sometimes  the  receiver  is  a  good  deal  worse  than  the 
thief." 

A  father  said  to  his  son  :  "  Now,  my  boy,  I've  been  making 
my  will,  and  I've  left  a  very  large  property  in  trust  for  you. 
I  merely  wish  to  ask  if  you've  any  suggpsti  n  to  offer?" 
The  son  replied,  "  Well,  I  don't  know  that  I  have,  sir — unless 
— hum — as  things  go  nowadays,  wouldn't  it  be  better  to  leave 
the  property  to  the  other  boy,  and — appoint  me  the  trustee  ?" 

A  shrewd  business  man  being  asked  recently,  "  Where  is  the 
best  place  to  put  a  small  amount  of  trust  funds  ?"  replied,  "  In 
the  vaults  of  a  good  safe  deposit  company."  "  Ah,  but  you 
get  no  interest."  "  True  ;  but  you  know  where  to  find  your 
principal  when  it  is  wanted  ;  and  of  what  other  place  can  you 
say  that,  nowadays  ?"  The  statement  is  too  strong  at  present, 
but  the  defalcations  and  embezzlements  of  the  last  three  months 
have  undoubtedly  brought  many  to  the  same  opinion. 


XXL 

POLITE    PILFERING. 

Through  tattered  clothes  small  vices  do  appear  ; 

Kohes  and  furred  gowns  hide  all.     Plate  sin  with  gold, 

And  the  strong  lance  of  justice  hurtless  breaks  ; 

Arm  it  in  rags,  a  pigmy's  straw  doth  pierce  it. — SHAKESPEARE. 

The  national  Constitution  and  the  Constitution  of  most  of  the 
States  were  formed  before  the  locomotive  existed,  and,  of  course,  no 
special  provision  was  made  for  its  control.  Are  our  institutions 
strong  enough  to  stand  the  shock  and  strain  of  this  new  force  ?  I  fail 
to  believe  that  the  genius  and  energy  that  have  developed  these  new 
and  tremendous  forces  will  fail  to  make  them,  not  the  masters,  but 
the  faithful  servants  of  society. — GABFIELD. 

THE  Himalayas  of  American  robbery  are  called  monopolies, 
twhich  mean  that  one  or  more  rich  men,  by  buying  up  all  com- 
petitors or  crushing  them  out  of  existence,  get  the  control  of 
some  commodity — a  perpetual  "  corner" — and  then  compel  all 
the  nation  to  "  stand  and  deliver"  whatever  price  they  may  ask 
in  the  way  of  plunder.  It  is  a  highway  robbery  of  the  whole 
nation  at  once.  For  instance,  according  to  J.  R.  Keene,  the 
coal  monopoly  is  just  now  robbing  the  people  of  one  dollar  per 
ton — compelling  us  to  pay  that  much  more  than  the  normal 
price. 

Our  commercial  life  is  an  oligarchy.  A  dozen  men  dictate 
what  we  shall  pay  for  oil,  for  coal,  for  wheat,  for  stocks  of 
every  kind.  Francis  A.  Walker  showed  in  the  Tribune  of 
December  14th,  1882,  that  business  establishments  are  every 
decade  concentrating  in  larger  shops  and  factories.  The  great- 
est political  contest  of  the  future  is  to  be  between  the  * '  robber 


192  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

barons"  of  monopoly  and  the  people,  as  to  which  shall  rule.* 
Anti-monopoly  is  a  good  cause,  whatever  any  one  may  think  of 
its  leaders.  The  only  fear  is  that  the  trodden  worm  will  turn 
into  a  snake. 

"  General,  come  in  here  a  moment  ;  we  have  something  for 
you  to  solve.  If  a  man  brings  his  watch  to  be  fixed,  and  it 
costs  me  ten  cents  to  do  it,  and  I  keep  it  a  week,  and  charge 
him  six  dollars,  what  per  cent  do  I  make  ?  We  have  been 
figuring,  and  make  it  nine  hundred  per  cent,  and  have  only  got 
up  to  one  dollar.  How  much  do  you  say  it  will  be  at  six  dol- 
lars?" 

11  Well,"  replied  the  general,  "  I  do  not  wonder  at  your 
perplexity  ;  for  it  is  well  known,  and  the  celebrated  Babbit 
calculating  machine  has  demonstrated,  that  at  certain  points  in 
progressive  numbers  the  law  governing  them  changes.  In  this 
case  the  law  would  change,  and  long  before  it  would  reach  the 
six  dollars  it  would  run  out  of  per  cent  and  into  what  is  known 
as  larceny  !" 

Condemnation  of  petty  stealing  comes  with  bad  grace  from 
these  monopolists.  The  ass  brays  at  the  dog  for  barking.  A 
lion,  feasting  on  a  deer,  upbraids  the  cat  for  mouse-catching. 

When  the  government  keeps  a  constant  look-out  against 
watered  milk  and  none  against  watered  railway-stock,  it  is 
straining  at  a  gnat  and  swallowing  a  camel.  So  also  when  it 
controls  the  transit  of  the  Panama  Canal  and  not  our  trans-con- 
tinental railways. 

The  monopolist  grows  only  through  the  commercial  death  of 
small  competitors  whom  he  unfairly  crushes  by  underselling. 
Selling  men  is  bad,  but  so  is  underselling.  One  robs  of  liberty, 
the  other  of  a  living. 

We  call  these  wholesale  robbers  "  smart."  You  had  rather 
be  a  smart  knave  than  a  fool.  But  the  knave  is  a  fool.  "  The 
folly  of  fools  is  deceit."  Nothing  in  the  long  run  is  so  great  a 

*  Prov.  11  :  21,  26  ;  16  :  19.  "  Power,"  says  Emerson,  "  is  what 
theBe  rich  men  want— not  candy." 


POLITE     P1LFEIUNG.  193 

blunder  as  wrong-doing.      * '  I  had  rather  be  right  than  Presi- 
dent." 

"  Your  hoards  are  great,  your  walls  are  strong, 

But  God  is  just  ; 

The  gilded  chambers  built  by  wrong 
Invite  the  rust. 

"  What !  know  ye  not  the  gain  of  crime 

In  dust  and  dross  ? 
It  ventures  on  the  way  of  time, 
Foredoomed  to  loss  !  "* 

But,  alas,  the  rich  are  not  allowed  to  monopolize  monopoly. 
In  a  "  Trade  and  Labor  Convention"  held  a  few  months  ago  at 
Philadelphia,  and  presided  over  by  President  Jarrett,  a  resolu- 
tion was  passed  asking  that  it  should  be  made  ' '  a  penal  offence 
to  import  foreign  labor  under  contract  for  the  purpose  of 
reducing  the  wages  of  American  labor."  The  New  York 
Tribune  describes  this  as  an  attempt  at  "  the  most  outrageous 
monopoly  ever  conceived  in  the  interest  of  the  men  who  happen 
to  have  migrated  to  this  country  already."  There  should  be 
no  conflict  between  labor  and  capital.  They  are  as  necessary 
to  each  other  as  to  the  bow  the  cord  is,  useless  each  without 
the  other. 

This  resolution  is  a  timely  reminder  that  the  root  of  all  evil 
needs  to  be  weeded  out  of  1he  poor  man's  potato  patch  as  well 
as  the  rich  man's  garden.  It  will  hardly  do  for  the  shop-keeper 
who  has  half  a  dozen  prices  for  the  same  article,  to  denounce 
railroads  for  charging  a  lower  freight  to  some  monopoly  than 
to  other  companies  which  it  wishes  to  crush.  Let  us  all,  rich 
and  poor,  join  the  Society  of  the  Royal  Law  and  love  our 
neighbors  as  ourselves. 

Another  instance  of  poor  men  stealing  from  each  other  is 
found  in  the  violations  of  the  Sunday  law.  It  was  in  the  inter- 
est of  poor  workmen,  and  especially  slaves,  that  Constantino 
enacted  the  first  civil  law  against  Sunday  labor,  except  works 

JMVhittier. 


194  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

of  necessity  and  mercy.  Alfred  the  Great  enacted  a  similar 
law  for  the  same  reason,  as  a  breakwater  for  the  poor  against 
the  oppressions  of  the  rich.  Thus  the  workingmen  got  seven 
days'  wages  for  six  days'  labor,  and  a  rest  day  extra.  Now  it 
is  largely  the  workingmen  themselves  that  cry  out  against  Sun- 
day laws,  and  require  other  laboring  men  to  give  up  their  Sun- 
days in  ministering  to  their  pleasures,  forgetting  that  they  are 
thus  opening  the  way  for  employers  to  compel  them  all  at 
length  to  work  seven  days  for  six  days'  wages. 

Even  now  those  who  break  the  Sabbath  steal  from  those  in 
the  same  trade  who  keep  it.  For  instance,  two  candy  stores 
close  on  Sunday  in  obedience  to  law.  Another  in  the  same 
neighborhood  keeps  open  and  takes  nearly  all  the  trade  which 
would  have  been  divided  on  Saturday  evening  if  all  had  kept 
the  law.  The  only  profits  taken  on  Sunday  that  could  not 
have  been  taken  without  the  loss  of  a  seventh-day  rest  are  the 
missionary  pennies  which  the  Sunday-school  children  embezzle. 
We  may  expect  unparalleled  embezzlements  when  these  chil- 
dren, so  early  led  to  steal  and  break  the  Sabbath,  shall  be- 
come our  treasurers  and  trustees.  Every  superintendent  should 
use  the  law  to  close  these  Sunday-schools  of  the  devil  when 
funds  are  embezzled  and  children  corrupted. 

No  wonder  that  fifty  horse-car  conductors  were  recently  dis- 
missed in  Philadelphia  for  stealing  fares  (from  two  to  five 
dollars  per  day),  since  they  had  themselves  been  first  robbed 
of  their  Sunday  culture  of  conscience.  A  state  that  robs  its 
creditors  by  repudiation  need  not  wonder  if  its  own  treasurer 
profits  by  the  lesson.  The  railroad  riots  of  a  few  years  ago  are 
but  a  whisper  of  warning  as  to  what  men  may  do  who  are  robbed 
of  their  Sunday  lessons  in  good  morals. 

A  boy  of  thirteen  came  to  the  city  to  seek  his  livelihood. 
The  first  opportunity  that  offered  was  a  position  in  a  drug 
store.  For  a  few  days  everything  seemed  satisfactory,  but 
after  a  few  weeks'  experience  he  exclaimed,  earnestly,  **  I  can- 
not stay  in  that  place.  I  am  willing  to  work  all  day,  to  work 
nights,  and  to  work  hard  ;  but  to  work  Sundays,  that's  what  I 


POLITE    PILFERING.  195 

won't  do.  If  people  only  came  in  to  buy  medicine,  that 
would  be  one  thing  ;  but  to  stay  there  and  sell  perfumery,  and 
soda  water,  and  mineral  water,  things  they  don't  need  at  all  ! 
I  never  felt  so  mean  in  all  my  life."  The  brave  little  fellow 
felt  that  his  moral  nature  had  received  a  shock  and  his  sense  of 
i-ight  had  been  outraged.  It  would  simplify  the  Sunday  ques- 
tion if  there  were  more  of  such  heroes. 

Stealing  by  false  weights  and  measures  is  far  more  common 
than  is  generally  known.  The  report  for  1882  of  the  Sealer  of 
Weights  and  Measures  for  Boston  showed  that  in  one  year  6536 
weights  and  measures  were  found  incorrect.  That  makes  us 
half  believe  Theodore  Parker's  remark  :  "  Let  the  right  be 
given  a  Boston  merchant  to  sell  out  the  Atlantic  Ocean  by  the 
quart,  and  he  will  cheat  in  the  measurement."  It  is  also  a 
symptom  of  something  amiss  that  the  papers  contain  so  many 
small  jokes  about  false  measures,  such  as  the  following  : 

"  The  son  of  a  butcher  experienced  great  difficulty  in  com- 
prehending fractions,  although  his  teacher  did  his  best  to  make 
him  understand  their  intricacies.  "  Now  let  us  suppose,"  said 
the  teacher,  "  that  a  customer  came  to  your  father  to  buy  five 
pounds  of  meat,  and  he  only  had  four  to  sell — what  would  he 
do  ?" — "  Keep  his  hand  on  the  meat  while  he  was  weighing  it, 
and  then  it  would  weigh  more  than  five  pounds, ' '  was  the  can- 
did response. 

* '  How  is  it,  Mr.  Brown, ' '  said  a  miller  to  a  farmer,  l '  that 
when  I  came  to  measure  those  ten  barrels  of  apples  I  bought 
from  you  I  found  them  nearly  two  barrels  short  ?"  "  Singu- 
lar, very  singular  ;  for  I  sent  them  to  you  in  ten  of  your  own 
flour  barrels."  "  Ahem  !  Did,  eh  ?"  said  the  miller,  "  well, 
perhaps  I  made  a  mistake." 

' '  It  seems  to  me  your  loaves  are  not  of  the  same  weight, ' ' 
muttered  a  fault-finding  housewife  to  a  baker,  as  she  poised  a 
couple  of  loaves  from  his  basket  ;  "  do  you  suppose  you  can 
cheat  me  ?"  "  I  don't  want  to  cheat  you,"  replied  the  man 
of  bread,  not  relishing  such  an  insinuation  ;  "  I  know  the 
loaves  were  weighed,  every  soul  of  them,  and  one  weighs  just 


196  SUCCESSFUL  HEtf   OF  TO-DAY. 

as  much  as  t'other,  by  gracious  !  and  more  too,  I  dare  say,  if 
the  truth  was  known  !" 

The  lecturer  began,  "  There  is  a  fortune  lying  in  wait — " 
Up  jumped  a  bullet-headed  fellow  in  the  north-east  corner  to 
remark,  "  Well,  I  guess  you're  'bout  right  there,  mister. 
There's  Bill,  the  butcher.  Three  years  ago,  he  wasn't  wuth  a 
dollar.  He's  got  a  fortin'  now.  Got  it  as  you  say  by  lying  in 
weight. ' ' 

"  When  all  de  half  bushels  gits  do  same  size,  you  may  look 
out  for  the  millenicum." 

"  Do  you  want  to  know,"  said  a  customer  to  a  grocer, 
"  how  you  could  sell  a  good  deal  more  than  you  do  ?"  "  Yes. 
How  can  I  ?"  "Fill  up  your  measures," 

Such  jokes,  even  if  not  facts,  are  signs  of  a  truth.  They  are 
straws  which  show  the  current. 

Why  is  it  that  a  coal  dealer,  opening  business  recently,  adver- 
tised that  he  would  give  full  weight  ?  Why  did  he  not  adver- 
tise that  he  would  not  steal  any  of  the  coal  sold  to  his  custom- 
ers ?  Whoever  steals  two  hundred  or  one  hundred  pounds  of 
coal  out  of  his  customers'  ton  blackens  all  his  gold.  "  They 
all  do  it"  will  not  whiten  a  theft.  Custom  cannot  make  two 
and  one  equal  four. 

The  man  who  sent  a  four-gallon  jug  for  molasses  and  received 
it  back  with  a  bill  for  five  gallons,  said  that  he  didn't  mind  the 
extra  gallon  of  molasses,  but  that  he  was  afraid  of  the  stress  on 
the  jug.  What  we  are  afraid  of  is  the  stress  on  the  conscience 
of  those  who  weigh  their  goods  by  the  false  balance  that  is 
called  an  abomination  to  the  Lord. 

It  is  hardly  fair  to  represent  Justice  any  longer  with  a  pair 
of  scales  in  her  hands.  Put  the  blindfolding  on  the  customer 
and  call  the  picture  Injustice. 

Buskin  is  right  in  saying  that  cheating  should  be  punished 
more  severely  than  stealing.  In  one  of  Mr.  Moody's  meetings 
I  knelt  for  an  hour  beside  a  repentant  grocer  who  had  cheated 
his  customers  by  false  weights  and  false  entries.  He  found  no 
peace  of  conscience  until  he  made  lestitution,  which  is  the  bet" 


POLITE    PILFERING.  197 

ter  half  of  penitence.  Let  your  pocket  weep  forth  its  ill-gotten 
gains.  Let  your  money  repent,  that  is,  turn  again  to  its  right- 
ful owners. 

Perhaps  stealing  never  appears  so  fully  as  a  fine  art  as  in  the 
role  of  adulterations.  Obtaining  money  by  false  pretenses  has 
a  wider  range  than  is  commonly  thought.  It  includes  all  ob- 
taining of  money  by  selling  goods  for  what  they  are  not  in  kind 
or  quantity  or  quality. 

In  a  report  on  the  "  Adulteration  of  Food  "  presented  to  the 
House  of  Representatives  of  the  46th  Congress  at  its  third  ses- 
sion (Report  199)  by  Mr.  Casey  Young,  from  the  Committee  on 
Epidemic  Diseases,  it  was  stated  that  '*  the  adulteration  of  arti- 
cles used  in  the  every-day  diet  of  vast  numbers  of  people  has 
grown  to  and  is  now  pra-cticed  to  such  an  extent  as  to  seriously 
endanger  the  public  health  and  to  call  loudly  for  some  sort  of 
legislative  correction.  Drags,  liquors,*  articles  of  clothing, 

*  I  have  seen  in  the  hands  of  a  temperance  lecturer  a  wonderful 
tin  box,  such  as  is  used  by  runners  for  wholesale  liquor  dealers,  con- 
taining drugs  and  recipes  for  making  all  kinds  of  wine  without 
grapes,  cider  without  apples,  etc.  The  box  came  into  his  hands 
through  the  suicide  of  a  druggist,  all  the  facts  being  certified  to  by 
Rev.  Mr.  Halsey  of  Brooklyn.  He  has  also  a  pile  of  books  purchased 
in  England,  France,  Australia,  Sandwich  Islands,  California  and 
New  York,  giving  directions  for  making  (not  importing)  all  kinds  of 
foreign  liquors  out  of  the  spirits  of  wine,  by  the  use  of  these  poison- 
ous drugs  ;  also  directions  for  making  new  barrels  look  old,  etc.  He 
has  offered  large  sums  of  money  again  and  again  to  liquor  dealers  in 
public  audiences  for  a  single  pint  of  pure  wine,  or  pure  gin,  or  pure 
brandy  from  their  stores  which  would  stand  chemical  analysis,  but 
without  success.  At  the  close  of  one  of  these  lectures,  on  March  27th, 
in  Brooklyn,  a  reliable  gentleman  of  my  acquaintance,  who  is  in  the 
drug  business  in  New  York,  said  that  the  lecturer's  statements  as  to  its 
being  well  nigh  impossible  to  get  pure  liquors  even  for  medicinal  purposes 
were  the  simple  truth.  "  I  do  not  believe,"  he  added,"  that  there  are 
five  gallons  of  pure  brandy  in  all  New  York  City. ' '  The  London  Times, 
commenting  on  the  facts  given  to  the  public  by  the  American  Consul 
at  Kochelle  in  France,  about  the  falsification  of  brandy  not  only  by 
merchants  but  by  the  very  proprietors  of  the  vineyards,  calls  atten- 


198  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

wall  paper,  and  many  other  things  seem  to  be  subjected  to  the 
same  dangerous  processes. "  The  report  shows  that  adultera- 
tions are  especially  common  in  spices  and  groceries. 

We  are  horrified  when  we  hear  of  some  exceptional  fiend  try- 
ing to  poison  a  whole  family  at  once  in  their  food,  or  when  we 
read  of  a  city  being  poisoned  by  infected  clothing.  What  shall 
we  say  of  the  men  who  deliberately  sit  down  with -their  chemis- 
tries and  pick  out  cheap  poisons,  which  they  can  secretly  ad- 
minister to  a  whole  nation  in  its  food  and  drinks  and  clothing, 
for  their  own  gain  ?  What  matters  it  if  there  is  a  slaughter  of 
the  innocents  by  these  "  doctored  goods,"  if  the  manufac- 
turers' pockets  are  filled  ?  Even  when  the  adulteration  or  imi- 
tation is  not  a  poison,  as  when  glucose  is  sold  for  sugar,  or 
oleomargarine  for  butter,  it  is  a  lie  and  a  theft. 

"  For  ways  that  are  dark  and  for  tricks  that  are  vain, 
The  heathen  Chinee  is  not  peculiar." 

Some  of  the  eccentricities  of  modern  adulteration  are  deli- 
cately disclosed  to  the  consumers  by  a  contemporary  German 
satirist  in  the  folio  wing  neat  and  pregnant  little  fable  :  "  There 
were  once  four  flies,  and,  as  it  happened,  they  were  hungry  one 
morning.  The  first  settled  upon  a  sausage  of  singularly  appe- 
tizing appearance,  and  made  a  hearty  meal.  But  he  speedily 
died  of  intestinal  inflammation,  for  the  sausage  was  adulterated 
with  aniline.  The  second  fly  breakfasted  upon  flour,  and  forth- 
with succumbed  to  contraction  of  the  stomach,  owing  to  the 
inordinate  quantity  of  alum  with  which  the  flour  had  been 
adulterated.  The  third  fly  was  slaking  his  thirst  with  the  con- 

tion  to  the  alarming  increase  of  adulterated  beverages,  and  says  in 
closing  :  "Not  only  in  France,  but  in  other  countries,  and  even  in 
the  United  States,  these  liquors  are  producing  a  condition  of  national 
alcoholism  of  the  worst  kind. "  Those  who  take  whiskey  for  whiskey, 
or  brandy  for  brandy,  or  wine  for  wine,  in  these  days  when  the  uni- 
versal habit  of  adulterating  liquors  is  so  well  known,  "  shut  their 
eyes  when  they  open  their  mouths,"  but  do  not  get  what  will  maka 
them  either  "  healthy  or  wealthy  or  wise." 


POLITE    PILFERING.  199 

tents  of  the  railk  jug,  when  violent  cramps  suddenly  convulsed 
his  frame,  and  he  soon  gave  up  the  ghost,  a  victim  to  chalk 
adulteration.  Seeing  this,  the  fourth  fly,  muttering  to  him- 
self, '  The  sooner  it's  over  the  sooner  to  sleep,'  alighted  upon  a 
moistened  sheet  of  paper  exhibiting  the  counterfeit  presentment 
of  a  death's  head,  and  the  inscription,  *  Fly  Poison.'  Apply- 
ing the  tip  of  his  proboscis  to  this  device,  the  fourth  fly  drank 
to  his  heart's  content,  growing  more  vigorous  and  cheerful  at 
every  mouthful,  although  expectant  of  his  end.  But  he  did 
not  die.  On  the  contrary,  he  throve  and  waxed  fat.  You 
see,  even  the  fly-poison  was  adulterated  !" 

In  the  long  run  such  adulterations  rob  the  pocket  as  well  as 
the  character.  "  Consul  Shaw,  at  Manchester,  sends  home  a 
statement  concerning  the  cotton  imported  from  this  country  to 
England,  which  is  disgraceful  to  the  South.  Sand,  it  is  stated, 
is  packed  in  the  cotton,  shovelled  in  or  blown  in,  to  so  large 
an  amount  that  thousands  of  tons  of  it  are  bought  and  paid  for 
as  cotton  in  the  course  of  a  year.  Water  is  also  thrown  into 
the  bales,  to  increase  the  weight  ;  and  not  satisfied  with  that, 
the  greedy  planter  in  some  cases  cunningly  hides  stones  and 
lumps  of  iron  in  the  cotton.  As  a  natural  consequence, 
Egyptian  and  Indian  cottons,  *  although  not  so  easy  or 
pleasant  to  spin,'  are  gaining  favor  in  the  market  because  they 
are  honestly  packed,  while  the  adulterated  American  is  steadily 
losing  value.  Consul  Shaw  proposes  that  growers  and  packers 
should  be  required  to  stamp  their  names  and  addresses  on  each 
bale.  The  raw  cotton  which  we  export  has  a  precisely  opposite 
history  from  our  manufactured  muslins,  prints  and  ducks,  as  they 
have  begun  to  thrust  the  fraudulent  English  cotton  goods  out 
of  the  Asiatic,  and  even  out  of  the  British  markets,  because 
they  are  wholly  free  from  adulteration.  It  takes  the  average 
manufacturer  and  trader  a  long  time  to  learn  that  honesty  is 
actually  the  best  policy  in  business  in  the  long  run.  Our  con- 
suls unceasingly  urge  this  fact  on  American  expoiters  of  sugar, 
butter,  beef,  pork,  machines,  and  canned  goods  ;  and  now  it 
comes  to  light  that  we  have  been  cheating  in  cotton.  It  is  a 


200  SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

pity  that  the  Southern  agriculturist,  with  his  one  important 
crop,  should  have  to  learn  at  this  late  date  how  senseless  and 
impolitic  is  dishonesty,  and  should  destroy  his  one  chance  in  a 
manner  so  stupidly  shameless  and  ruinous."* 

Men  say,  u  Others  adulterate,  and  I  must  or  fail."  Better 
fail  that  way  than  a  worse  one. 

Since  imprisonment  for  debt  has  ceased,  one  of  the  most 
popular  methods  of  stealing  is  borrowing  without  the  proba- 
bility of  paying. 

Some  years  ago  a  Highlander,  being  in  the  city  of  Glasgow 
for  the  first  time,  one  fine  morning  was  amazed  at  the  stream 
of  people  flocking  from  all  quarters  toward  the  end  of  the 
green,  where  criminals  were  hung.  He  asked  a  passenger  what 
the  folks  expected  to  see  down  there. 

"  A  man  is  to  be  hanged  this  morning,  sir,"  was  the  answer. 

"  Oh,  poor  man  !  and  what  are  they  going  to  hang  him  for  ?" 

"  Sheep-stealing,  sir." 

"  Tut,  tut  !  poor  stupid  man  !  Why  did  he  not  buy  them 
and  never  pay  for  them  ?' ' 

There  is  a  class  of  men  in  every  community  who  live  for 
years  by  this  form  of  petty  thieving — making  small  loans  and 
incurring  small  bills  which  they  never  pay.  They  do  no  other 
business,  and  yet  are  able  to  enjoy  all  the  luxuries  of  life. 
Every  business  which  gives  credit,  charges  the  paying  customers 
extra  to  cover  these  losses,  so  that  every  honest  consumer  is 
robbed  by  them. 

A  German  shoemaker,  having  made  a  pair  of  boots  for  a 
gentleman  of  whose  financial  integrity  he  had  considerable 
doubt,  made  the  following  reply  to  him  when  he  called  for  the 
articles  :  "  Der  poots  ish  not  quite  done,  but  der  beel  ish  made 
out." 

The  Methodist  Discipline  brands  this  tl  borrowing  without 
the  probability  of  paying"  as  a  crime  against  God  and  man. 
Let  public  opinion  put  the  same  criminal  stripes  upon  it. 

*  New  York  Tribune. 


301 


"  I  stand, "  said  a  stump  orator,  "  on  the  broad  platform  of 
the  principles  of  '98,  and  palsied  be  my  arm  if  I  desert  'em." 
"  You  stand  on  nothing  of  the  kind,"  interrupted  a  little  shoe- 
maker in  the  crowd  ;  u  you  stand  in  my  boots  that  you  never 
paid  me  for,  and  I  want  the  money. ' ' 

It  would  be  wholesome  if  these  small-debt  thieves  were  often 
thus  exposed.  I  pity  the  man  who  for  such  petty  thieving  will 
sell  out  his  power  and  right  to  look  every  man  straight  in  the 
eye.  His  resources  of  credit  soon  run  out.  "  A  wooden  pot 
cannot  often  be  put  on  the  fire. ' ' 

A  Scotch  nobleman,  seeing  an  old  gardener  of  his  establish- 
ment with  a  very  ragged  coat,  made  some  passing  remarks  on 
its  condition.  "It's  a  verra  guid  coat,"  said  the  honest  old 
man.  "  I  cannot  agree  with  you  there,"  said  his  lordship. 
"  Ay,  it's  just  a  verra  guid  coat,"  persisted  the  old  man  ;  "  it 
covers  a  contented  spirit,  and  a  body  that  owes  no  man  any- 
thing, and  that's  mair  than  mony  a  man  can  say  of  his  coat." 

But  the  great  artists  of  refined  stealing  incur  debts  on  a  large 
scale,  and  then  take  advantage  of  the  "new  way  to  pay  old 
debts' ' — bankruptcy  laws. 

"  The  world  is  a  goose  :  to  succeed,  you  must  pick 
The  feathers  off  nicely  by  buying  on  tick. 
The  vulgar  pickpocket  is  sent  off  to  jail  : 
Be  polite  ;  give  your  note  ;  and  gracefully  fail." 

The  skilled  artist  will  see  to  it  that  while  he  goes  through  the 
bankruptcy  court  his  fine  horse  is  driven  round  by  his  wife, 
with  most  of  the  valuables.  It  has  become  a  proverb,  "  He 
who  never  fails  will  never  grow  rich."  It  is  easier  to  rob  by 
bankruptcy  than  by  burglary.  This  is  a  ground  where  every 
critic  should  tread  with  justice  and  carefulness,  since  honest 
misfortune  and  dishonest  rascality  have  fled  to  the  same  city  of 
refuge — the  bankrupt  law.  I  have  only  sympathy  for  the  man 
who,  in  spite  of  economy,  fidelity,  and  diligence,  has  fallen 
before  the  simoon  of  financial  disaster,  through  the  power  of 
influences  beyond  his  control,  but  since  robbers  have  fled  to  tho 


202  SUCCESSFUL   MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 

same  sanctuary  it  is  but  justice  to  every  bankrupt  who  is  on  a 
church  record,  as  well  as  to  the  church,  to  have,  as  in  former 
times,  a  church  committee  appointed  to  investigate  whether  the 
bankruptcy  is  really  a  failure  or  fraud,  thus  separating  the 
wheat  from  the  tares,  the  unfortunate  from  the  unprincipled. 

Where  is  conscience  during  all  these  respectable  robberies  ? 
There  is  a  strange  custom  said  to  exist  among  thieves  in  China. 
They  prepare  a  composition  of  some  medicated  ingredient,  sup- 
posed to  be  aconite,  and  lighting  it,  blow  it  into  the  room  to 
be  robbed  by  means  of  a  tube,  through  a  hole  previously  made 
— not  a  difficult  thing  in  a  Chinese  house  with  paper  windows 
and  doors.  The  inmates  are  thus  anaBstheticized,  or  at  least 
deprived  of  the  power  of  speech  and  locomotion,  and  the 
thieves  enter  and  do  their  work.  In  vain  does  the  proprietor 
being  robbed  see  the  burglars.  He  cannot  move  limb  or 
tongue.  It  is  said  that  water  absorbs  this  poison,  and  so  for 
this  purpose  it  is  not  uncommon  for  wealthy  people  to  sleep 
with  a  basin  of  water  at  their  heads. 

In  this  country  the  thieves  stupefy  their  own  consciences 
with  covetousness  and  excuses  as  a  preparation  for  stealing  by 
wholesale.  The  best  we  can  wish  for  such  men  is  that  they 
may  some  day  run  for  office.  Then  they  will  hear  from  the 
public  conscience,  which  requires  a  candidate  for  political  office 
to  be  more  honest  than  most  of  his  constituents.  Or  they  will 
find  their  judgment  day,  when,  needing  credit,  "  the  books  are 
opened"  at  the  Mercantile  Agency,  which  records  the  com- 
mercial biography  of  every  merchant,  and  it  is  shown  that  they 
were  once  negligent  about  their  debts,  and  paid  them  at  last  by 
dishonest  bankruptcy. 

And  what  shall  I  more  say  of  the  varied  forms  of  refined 
stealing  ?  for  the  time  would  fail  to  speak  in  detail  of  the 
bribery  *  of  public  officers  and  commercial  buyers  by  monopo- 

*  Dent.  16  :  19  ;  Prov.  15  :  27  ;  17  :  23. 

The  bribery  of  commercial  buyers  is  rapidly  growing  into  a 
national  evil.  The  runner  for  an  oil  company,  for  instance,  enters  a 
wool  establishment  where  a  great  deal  of  oil  is  used,  and  being  re- 


POLITE    PILFERIXG.  203 

lists  and  jury  fixers  and  merchants  ;  of  hubbelling,  by  which 
government  employes  are  blackmailed  for  party  purposes  ;  of 
liquor-selling,  which  robs  the  public  by  adulterations,  by  trans- 
gressing its  legal  rights  in  selling  on  Sundays,  and  to  children, 
and  by  taking  money  without  returning  a  fair  equivalent  ;  of 
some  lawyers,  who,  unlike  physicians,  have  not  given  up  bleed- 
ing their  patients,  and  rob  the  public  by  legislative  lobbies  to 
prevent  the  simplifying  of  the  unjust  insurance  laws,  and  by 

f erred  to  the  foreman,  says  to  him  confidentially  :  "  We  call  the  price 
of  this  oil  twenty-five  cents  a  gallon,  but  all  I  want  to  get  is  twenty 
cents,  and  we  will  divide  the  five  cents  a  gallon  between  us  if  you  will 
buy  of  me."  If  the  foreman  is  dishonest,  he  buys  not  of  the  man  who 
will  furnish  the  best  oil,  but  rather  of  the  one  who  will  pay  him  the 
largest  bribe.  A  recent  investigation  of  the  senatorial  barber-shop  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Legislature,  as  described  by  the  New  York  Tribune, 
will  further  illustrate  the  dark  ways  of  this  commercial  bribery  : 

"  We  regret  to  observe  that  second-rate  articles  were  '  rung  in '  on 
the  able  Senators  in  several  instances.  The  barber  let  out  his  patron- 
age by  contract,  and  some  of  the  contractors  made  handsome  profits 
by  supplying  inferior  goods.  Thus  the  sponge  contractor  agreed  to 
supply  sponges  at  $15  a  pound.  Those  he  furnished  were  subse- 
quently estimated  as  being  worth  no  more  than  $2  a  pound.  Of 
course,  the  State  was  the  pecuniary  loser  in  the  transaction,  but  what 
ignominy  it  was  for  the  august  senatorial  head  to  be  swabbed  with 
a  sponge  of  so  low  a  quality.  Then  boxes  containing  only  sixty  bars 
of  soap  were  paid  for  as  if  containing  one  hundred.  Second-rate, 
and  possibly  second-hand,  combs  and  brushes  were  furnished  in  the 
same  way,  and  there  were  suggestions  that  the  man  who  supplied  the  towels 
and  chamois-skins  had  a  'divy'  with  the  barber  by  which  he  furnished 
poor  supplies  and  made  a  50  per  cent  profit  on  his  contract.  This  shows 
how  corruption  is  gnawing  at  the  very  vitals  of  our  institutions. 
Nothing  is  too  sacred  for  its  polluting  touch.  Think  of  the  Pennsyl- 
vanian  senatorial  bald  head,  scrubbed  with  laundry  soap,  washed  off 
with  a  sponge  bought  on  a  street  corner  at  ten  cents  the  dozen,  pol- 
ished up  with  a  towel  which  may  have  been  a  discarded  dishcloth, 
and  finally  whitened  with  a  nasty  chalk  preparation  deceitfully  called 
powder  !  No  wonder  free  institutions  are  tottering  !  If  this  is  the 
kind  of  treatment  which  a  great  modern  statesman  experiences  when 
he  submits  himself  to  be  shaved  and  bathed  at  the  public  expense, 
our  system  of  government  is  a  miserable  failure." 


204  SUCCESSFUL   MEN    OF   TO-DAY. 

needless  delays  in  the  courts,  which  verify  the  proverb,  "  The 
more  law  the  less  justice  ;"  of  stealing  by  pa-inters  and  me- 
chanics, who  prolong  one  job  until  they  get  another  ;  of  rich 
men  stealing  from  the  public  by  withholding  their  taxes  or  pay- 
ing them  in  some  place  where  they  do  not  really  reside,  thus 
indirectly  making  their  poor  neighbors  pay  their  tax  ;  of  em- 
ployers stealing  from  their  employes  by  keeping  back  their 
wages  or  unjustly  cutting  them  down  ;  of  stealing  by  false 
signs,  false  advertisements,  false  statements,  false  bills,  false 
labels  ;  by  giving  better  meat  to  rich  customers  than  to  the 
poor  at  the  same  charge  ;  and  by  sham  prices,  "  charging 
what  is  unjust  that  you  may  get  what  is  just"  from  those  who 
ask  for  a  discount,  and  more  than  is  just  from  those  who  do 
not. 

Before  you  cast  a  stone  of  condemnation  at  these  refined 
forms  of  stealing,  be  sure  that  you  are  not  yourself  at  least  as 
far  as  the  hallway  of  a  glass  house.  It  will  hardly  do  for  those 
•who  steal  half-price  rides  for  their  "  scooching"  children  that 
are  beyond  the  half-price  age,  to  criticise  the  grocer  for  giving 
short  measure. 

"  The  steam-cars  run  so  rapidly  that  they  get  way  ahead  of 
a  child's  age,  so  that  the  boy  or  girl  who  was  fifteen  when  he 
entered  them  is  no  more  than  six  or  eight  by  the  time  the  con- 
ductor comes  along.  Boast  of  our  progress  as  you  may, 
there's  no  denying  that  the  children  are  behind  the  age  on  rail- 
ways and  at  the  entertainment  ticket  offices." 

It  is  estimated  that  the  government  loses  over  a  million  dol- 
lars a  year  by  the  second  use  of  postage  stamps — the  ink  being 
washed  off.  Whoever  steals  a  postage  stamp  is  at  least  a  dis- 
tant relative  to  him  who  robs  a  mail-bag.  And  how  many 
people  send  writing  through  the  mails  in  newspapers  or  rolls  at 
printed  matter  rates  !  The  Postmaster-General  of  Great 
Britain  says  that  14,000  newspapers  were  detected  doing  this 
illegal  service  between  England  and  the  "United  States  and 
Canada  last  year. 

Another  phase  of  petty  dishonesty  is  tardiness  in  meeting 


POLITE     PILFERING.  205 

engagements  by  which  one  robs  others  of  time,  which  is  money 
to  them.  A  man  promises  to  pay  a  bill  on  the  first  day  of  tho 
month,  but  carelessly  lets  it  run  on  to  the  tenth,  to  the  great  in- 
convenience or  loss  of  his  creditor,  who  depended  on  his  prom- 
ise. Tardiness  is  dishonesty.  Stealing  time  may  be  even 
worse  than  stealing  money. 

Bad  work  is  yet  another  common  form  of  stealing  that  needs 
a  true  label.  A  man  pays  for  work  of  a  certain  grade,  and  does 
not  get  it.  His  money  has  been  obtained  by  false  pretences. 
All  bad  work  is  lying,  stealing,  and  sometimes  murder,  for  in- 
stance the  bridges  and  tunnels  that  fall  in  and  destroy  property 
and  life,  and  in  the  defective  plumbing  which  produces  disease 
and  death. 

A  convict  says  he  was  sent  to  prison  for  being  dishonest, 
and  yet  he  is  compelled  every  day  to  cut  out  pieces  of  paste- 
board, which  are  put  between  the  soles  of  the  cheap  shoes 
made  there  and  palmed  off  on  the  innocent  public  as  leather. 

Let  labor  unions  strike  against  doing  bad  or  dishonest  work, 
and  so  acquit  themselves  of  the  charge  of  being  as  much  actu- 
ated by  selfishness  as  their  employers.  Let  them  dismiss  idle 
and  incompetent  men,  and  seek  to  raise  the  grade  and  quality 
of  their  work  as  well  as  its  price.  Let  us  hear  of  strikes  for 
honest  work  by  those  engaged  in  base  and  useless  occupations, 
and  for  better  work  by  those  who  are  in  right  employments 
that  are  badly  conducted.  Three  removes  are  as  bad  as  a 
fire,  but  a  dozen  are  better  than  doing  a  dishonest  business. 
As  we  have  accomplished  emancipation  from  the  slavery  that 
forced  men  to  do  unpaid  work,  let  us  save  ourselves  from  the 
slavery  of  organizations  that  force  men  to  be  idle  ;  that  strike 
against  wages  that  wrong  themselves,  but  not  against  work  that 
wrongs  the  public. 

I  must  not  omit  from  these  refined  specimens  of  stealing  that 
to  which  the  Bible  refers  when  it  says  :  "  Will  a  man  rob 
God?  In  tithes  and  in  offerings  have  ye  robbed  me."  The 
early  teachings  of  God  to  the  human  race,  as  far  back  as  the 
days  of  Abraham,  before  there  was  a  Jewish  people,  I  under- 


206  SUCCESSFUL   HEX    OF   TO-DAY. 

stand  to  indicate  that  a  tenth  of  our  income  belongs  to  God  as 
our  Father  and  King.  The  rule  is  as  appropriate  now  as  it 
ever  was.  We  ought  to  give  beyond  that,  but  one  tenth  of 
our  income,  I  take  it,  is  not  ours  to  keep.  Withholding  it,  we 
shall  corne  to  see  by  aiid  by  is  embezzling  trust  funds. 

That  church  member  in  Connecticut  who  recently  gave  five 
dollars  to  Foreign  Missions,  ten  dollars  for  pew  rent,  and  thirty 
thousand  dollars  for  his  own  monument,  has  raised  a  monument 
of  his  unchristian  character. 

As  one  labels  poisons  that  they  may  not  be  mistaken  for 
food,  so  it  will  be  profitable  for  us  to  examine  the  questionable 
practices  of  to-day  and  label  the  various  forms  of  stealing,  as  I 
have  sought  to  do. 

If  all  thieves  were  punished,  as  in  some  lands,  by  having 
their  hair  cut  short  and  smeared  with  pitch  and  a  pillow-full  of 
feathers  emptied  over  their  heads,  what  a  horde  of  savages  we 
should  have,  and  how  it  would  put  up  the  price  of  feathers  ! 
Some  bankers  and  trustees  and  treasurers  would  not  look  quite 
so  fine  and  trim  as  they  pass  up  the  avenues  to  their  palaces 
built  of  fraud. 

As  a  nation  is  deeply  affected  by  the  atmosphere  of  the 
country  in  which  it  lives,  so  I  believe  that  the  commercial 
atmosphere  of  some  great  cities  has  unconsciously  lowered  the 
standard  of  integrity  in  many  once  good  men.  Now  the  only 
sentence  in  Ecclesiastes  that  they  believe  is,  "  Be  not  righteous 
overmuch.'*  They  are  content  to  be  "  average  honest,"  which 
means  anything  between  the  highest  Christian  and  the  lowest 
knave.  They  sympathize  with  the  little  girl  who,  being  asked 
if  she  had  been  good,  answered,  **  Not  veddy  good,  not  veddy 
bad — just  a  comferable  little  girl." 

But  there  is  no  comfort  in  being  "  average  honest."  As 
well  die  for  an  old  sheep  as  a  lamb.  Let  our  honesty  be 
"  o'  and  o'  " — out  and  out.  The  old  road  of  integrity  seems 
a  long  way  round,  but  in  the  end  it  is  shorter  than  the  short 
cut  of  fraud  that  leaves  you  in  the  swamp.  He  who  seeks  to 
destroy  others  wrongs  himself  yet  more.  Don't  let  any  one 


POLITE    PILFEKIKQ.  207 

see  you  do  a  mean  thing,  especially  not  the  man  you  are  always 
with — yourself.  Then  you  will  never  be  afraid  of  being  found 
out.  Only  the  black  fear  they  will  be  blackmailed. 

"  The  honest  man,  though  ne'er  so  poor, 
Is  king  o'  men  for  a'  that." 

"  He  that  walketh  uprightly  walketh  surely." 

In  the  language  of  Dr.  Cuyler's  motto,  "  No  one  was  ever 
lost  on  a  straight  road." 

As  a  godly  merchant  lay  upon  his  dying  bed,  he  spoke  to 
his  children  of  the  little  property  which  he  had  acquired  and 
was  leaving  behind  him.  "It  is  not  much,  but  there  is  not  a 
dirty  shilling  in  it." 

"  Perish  policy  and  cunning, 

Perish  all  that  fears  the  light ; 

Whether  losing,  whether  winning, 

Trust  in  God  and  do  the  right. 

Some  will  hate  thee,  some  will  love  thee, 
Some  will  flatter,  some  will  slight ; 

Cease  from  man  and  look  above  thee, 
Trust  in  God  and  do  the  right. "  * 

*  Dr.  Norman  MacLeod. 


LABOR  rids  us  of  three  evils— tediousness,  vice,  and  poverty. — 
CABLYLE. 

It  may  be  proved  with  much  certainty  that  God  intends  no  man 
to  live  in  this  world  without  working  ;  but  it  seems  to  me  no  less  evi- 
dent that  he  intends  every  man  to  be  happj^  in  his  work.  It  is  writ- 
ten, '  In  the  sweat  of  thy  brow, '  but  it  was  never  written,  '  In  the 
breaking  of  thy  heart '  thou  shalt  eat  bread. — BUSKIN. 

To  be  satisfied,  or  at  all  events  reconciled  with  our  occupation, 
whatever  it  may  be,  is  the  first  essential  of  mental  health.  It  is  of  the 
utmost  importance  for  a  man  to  choose  such  a  profession  or  occupa- 
tion as  his  education  and  mental  qualities  best  fit  him  to  pursue,  and 
having  made  his  choice,  to  recognize  the  fact  that  he  is  working  for 
some  fixed  and  definite  purpose.  Let  a  man  so  school  and  discipline 
himself  that  when  misfortune  or  disaster  comes  it  shall  find  him  with 
sufficient  reserve  force,  with  enough  mental  or  nervous  stamina,  to 
make  the  best  of  what  remains  and  not  be  overcome  by  an  unlooked- 
for  and  unexpected  stroke  of  misfortune.  The  habit  of  doing  one 
thing  at  a  time  and  doing  it  well  ;  the  power  of  concentration,  which 
is  the  outgrowth  of  this  habit,  and  a  resolution  to  make  the  best  of 
life  and  the  work  one  has  chosen,  are  the  surest  defence  against  mis- 
fortune and  the  best  safeguard  against  disease. — DB.  EDWABD  E. 
JANEWAY. 

There  is  no  secret  of  success  but  work. — TUENEE. 

Genius  is  capacity  for  an  extraordinary  degree  of  application. — 
AGASSIZ. 

A  somewhat  varied  experience  of  men  has  led  me.  the  longer  I  live, 
to  set  the  less  value  on  mere  cleverness  ;  to  attach  more  and  more  im- 
portance to  industry  and  physical  endurance.  Indeed,  I  am  much 
disposed  to  think  that  endurance  is  the  most  valuable  quality  of  all  ; 
for  industry,  as  the  desire  to  work  hard,  does  not  come  to  much  if  a 
feeble  frame  is  unable  to  respond  to  the  desire.  No  life  is  wasted 
unless  it  ends  in  sloth,  dishonesty  or  cowardice.  No  success  is 
worthy  of  the  name  unless  it  is  won  by  honest  industry  and  brave 
breasting  of  the  waves  of  fortune. — HUXLEY. 


XXII. 

LABOR  AND   LUCK. 

"  LET  him  that  stole  steal  no  more,  but  rather  let  him  labor. " 
There  is  no  other  safe  road. 

Rev.  Washington  Gladden  investigated  the  early  history  of 
eighty-eight  of  Springfield's  leading  men.  Of  these,  only  five 
were  not  in  early  life  trained  to  regular  work.  Ninety-four 
and  a  half  per  cent  of  these  successful  men  were  either  farmers' 
boys  or  poor,  hard-working  town  boys.  Only  five  and  a  half 
per  cent  of  that  company  of  successful  men  came  from  the  class 
of  boys  who  have  "  nothing  in  particular  to  do."  From  this 
latter  class,  however,  come  most  of  the  thieves  and  jail-birds, 
who  would  not  work  for  pay,  and  so  had  to  work  without  pay. 
Howard  found  that  even  prisoners  grew  worse  if  not  set  to 
work.  u  O  then  we  bring  forth  weeds  when  our  quick  minds 
lie  still."  Young  loafers  first  read  their  fate,  "  Steal  or 
work  ;"  then  in  prison  they  re-read  it,  "  Steal  and  work." 

Henry  Ward  Beecher  tells  a  story  of  a  man  in  the  Canadian 
backwoods,  who,  during  the  summer  months,  had  procured  a 
stock  of  fuel  sufficient  for  the  winter.  This  man  had  a  neigh- 
bor who  was  very  indolent,  but  not  very  honest,  and  who,  hav- 
ing neglected  to  provide  against  the  winter  storms,  was  mean 
enough  to  avail  himself  of  his  neighbor's  supplies  without  the 
latter' s  permission  or  knowledge.  Mr.  Beecher  states  that  it 
was  found,  on  computation,  that  the  thief  had  actually  spent 
more  time  in  watching  for  opportunities  to  steal,  and  labored 
more  arduously  to  remove  the  wood  (to  say  nothing  of  the  risk 
and  penalty  of  detection)  than  the  man  who  in  open  daylight, 
and  by  honest  means,  had  gathered  it- 


210  SUCCESSFUL   MEtf   OF   TO-DAY. 

"  The  latest  gospel  in  the  world,"  says  Carlyle,  "  is,  Man, 
know  thy  work,  and  do  it. "  If  the  stage  route  is  discontinued, 
strike  for  the  cars.  If  no  whales,  try  an  oil-well.  A  City  Hall 
sign  aptly  says,  "Gentlemen  will  not,  and  others  must  not  loaf 
on  these  steps."  Gentlemen  "  will  not  loaf,"  but  labor. 

Fireflies  shine  only  when  in  motion.  It  is  only  the  active 
who  can  hope  to  shine.  The  bicycle  falls  when  it  ceases  its 
activity.  Doing  nothing  is  an  apprenticeship  to  doing  wrong. 
The  man  who  stands  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets  through  the 
morning  will  have  them  in  other  folks'  pockets  before  night. 
"  When  the  field  was  sown  without  being  ploughed,  it  yielded 
without  being  reaped."  "  A  young  man  idle,  an  old  man 
needy."  "  He  that  will  eat  the  kernel  must  crack  the  nut." 

"  A  lazy  man  is  of  no  more  use  in  the  world  than  a  dead 
man,  and  he  takes  up  more  room."  "  Sloth  is  the  key  to 
poverty."  "  He  that  would  thrive  must  rise  at  five."  He 
who  waits  for  something  to  turn  up  is  likely  to  turn  up  in  jail. 
The  rich  reproach  the  poor  for  idleness — that  is,  the  sieve 
reproves  the  needle  for  having  a  hole  in  it.  Fathers  should 
early  teach  their  boys  that  **  if  any  one  will  not  work,  neither 
shall  he  eat." 

Mr.  Beecher  has  well  said  that  every  idle  man  has  to  be  sup- 
ported by  some  industrious  man.  Rich  as  England  is,  all  her 
wealth  would  only  support  the  population  in  idleness  for  one 
year. 

What  a  picture  of  a  sluggard  is  that  in  Proverbs  :  "  A  sloth- 
ful man  putteth  his  hand  in  his  dish,  and  will  not  so  much  as 
bring  it  to  his  mouth  again."  *  He  is  "  born  tired."  If  he 
ever  saw  a  snail,  he  must  have  met  him,  for  he  never  overtook 
one. 

While  avoiding  idleness  as  one  extreme,  overwork  is  to  be 
shunned  as  the  other.  A  man  overworks  to  gain  $200,  and 
then  pays  out  $500  in  recovering  his  health.  That  is  like  the 

*  Read  Prov.  6  :  6-11  ;  18  :  9  ;  19  :  15,  24  ;  21  :  13,  25  ;  22  :  13  ; 
24  :  30-34  ;  26  :  13. 


LABOR   AND    LUCK.  211 

progress  of  the  little  girl,  who  explained  her  lateness  at  school 
one  winter  day  by  saying  that  for  every  step  she  took  forward 
she  slipped  back  two.  "  How,  then,  did  you  ever  get  here  ?" 
said  the  teacher.  "  Oh, "  said  the  quick-witted  child,  ' '  I  turned 
around  and  went  the  other  way. ' '  Overwork  puts  one  back 
two  steps  for  every  one  gained.  It  is  better  to  go  the  other 
way.  It  is  the  early  worm  that  falls  a  victim  to  the  early  bird. 
One  should  not  be  early  to  rise  unless  he  is  early  to  bed.  Only 
for  such  does  "  the  morning  hour  have  gold  in  his  mouth." 
"  The  man  who  is  to  keep  other  folks  awake  must  sleep  a  great 
deal  himself."  What  a  haste  looks  through  the  eyes  of 
Americans  !  We  are  gluttons  of  work.  "  People  should 
shine  as  lights  in  the  world,  but  not  put  the  candle  in  a  draught 
or  doorway."  "  Every  American,  so  Europe  thinks,  is  born 
half  an  hour  too  late,  and  is  trying  all  his  life  to  make  up  lost 
time."  Between  idleness  and  overwork  lios  the  happy  valley 
of  healthy  industry.  As  we  read  of  Adam  before  the  fall  put 
into  the  garden  "  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it,"  we  see  that  a  life 
of  business  activity  is  consistent  and  appropriate  to  the  highest 
rank,  the  fullest  pleasure,  the  noblest  purity.  Let  us  magnify 
our  office,  and  be  happy  in  whatever  work  we  have  to  do,  in  the 
spirit  of  the  organ-blower,  who  said  he  could  pump  any  tnno 
the  organist  could  play.  The  test  of  honor  is  achievement. 
"  What  hast  thou  that  thou  didst  not  receive  ?" 

Amor  et  labor  omnia  vincit.  The  mountain  of  success  does 
not  come  to  us.  We  must  go  to  it  step  by  step.  Persever- 
ance removes  mountains  or  tunnels  them.  "  Would  you  live 
long,  work  hard,"  said  Rowland  Hill,  and  proved  it.  Hard 
labor  prevents  "  hard  luck."  I  suggest  that  when  the  "  Thir- 
teen Club"  have  proved  that  is  not  an  unlucky  number,  they 
further  prove  that  labor  is  luck. 

Rufus  Choate  believed  in  hard  work.  When  some  one  said 
to  him  that  a  certain  fine  achievement  was  the  result  of  acci- 
dent, he  exclaimed,  "  Nonsense  !  You  might  as  well  drop 
the  Greek  alphabet  on  the  ground  and  expect  to  pick  up  the 
Iliad." 


SUCCESSFUL   MEi*    OF   TO-DAY. 

The  Paris  correspondent  of  the  London  Times  once  said  to 
Thiers,  "It  is  marvellous,  M.  le  President,  how  you  deliver 
long  improvised  speeches  about  which  you  have  not  had  time 
to  reflect."  "You  are  not  paying  me  a  compliment,"  he 
replied  :  u  it  is  criminal  in  a  statesman  to  improvise  speeches 
on  public  affairs.  The  speeches  you  call  improvised,  why,  for 
fifty  years  I  have  been  rising  at  five  in  the  morning  to  prepare 
them." 

A  new  book  which  has  been  warmly  commended  for  its 
thoroughness  and  finish,  is  said  to  have  been  rewritten  nine 
times,  and  portions  of  it  fifteen  times,  before  it  was  committed 
to  the  printer. 

A  man  who  is  very  rich,  when  asked  how  he  got  his  riches, 
replied,  "  My  father  taught  me  never  to  play  till  all  my  work 
for  the  day  was  finished,  and  never  to  spend  money  till  I  had 
earned  it.  If  I  had  but  half  an  hour's  work  to  do  in  a  day,  I 
must  do  that  the  first  thing,  and  in  half  an  hour.  After  this 
was  done  I  was  allowed  to  play.  I  early  formed  the  habit  of 
doing  everything  in  its  time,  and  it  soon  became  perfectly 
easy  to  do  so.  It  is  to  this  habit  that  I  now  owe  my  pros- 
perity." 

Don't  take  your  work  as  a  dose.  Rather  say,  as  Christ  did 
of  his  appointed  work — no  easy  task — "  I  delight  to  do  thy 
will,  OGod." 

"  Hard  work"  is  frequently  mentioned  by  our  prominent 
men  among  the  secrets  of  success.  '  *  No  sweat,  no  sweet. ' ' 
This  secret  of  success  is  variously  expressed  :  "  Plodding  per- 
severance," "  Unceasing  labor,"  "  Willingness  and  ability  to 
work, "  * '  No  shrinking  from  hard  work, "  "  Hard  study, ' ' 
4 'Persistent  study." 

"  Lack  of  hard  study"  is  given  as  a  reason  why  so  many 
lawyers  fail  ;  also  "  Impatience  of  irksome  details." 

Among  the  general  reasons  for  failure  are  the  following 
which  connect  with  this  question  of  work  :  "  Disposition  of 
young  men  to  take  life  easy  and  willingness  of  parents  to  let 
them."  u  Antipathy  of  young  men  to  learning  a  trade." 


LABOR  AND  LUCK.  213 

''  Shirking  drudgery."  ("  THe  horse  opens  his  mouth  when 
one  says,  Oats,  and  shuts  it  when  he  says,  Bridle.") 

A  rich  man  in  Ohio  said,  u  I'm  proud  of  my  boys.  As 
soon  as  they  were  old  enough  to  work,  I  bethought  myself  that 
riches  had  spoiled  many  boys,  and  also  that  rich  boys  might  be 
poor  men.  So  I  gave  to  every  boy  his  work.  Some  of  them 
carried  on  a  garden,  from  which  I  purchased  supplies  for  the 
kitchen,  requiring  them  to  be  posted  on  market  reports  and 
keep  their  accounts  in  proper  style.  Others  managed  a  car- 
penter's shop,  and  were  paid  for  making  repairs.  In  this  way 
they  all  learned  to  work  and  to  use  money,  and  were  happier 
than  if  they  had  been  left  in  idleness. ' ' 

Most  of  the  men  who  are  now  at  the  top  of  the  ladder  in 
financial  success  began  at  the  bottom  and  mastered  every  detail 
of  their  trade  step  by  step.  Franklin  Fairbanks  and  Orange 
Judd  each  told  me  they  could  take  the  place  of  any  workman 
in  their  employ  except  the  blacksmith.  Hon.  William  E. 
Dodge  began  by  sweeping  out  the  store  which  he  afterward 
owned.  Moen  of  Worcester  also  mastered  his  business  from 
the  bottom.  An  eminent  merchant  says  that  "most  of  the 
failures  in  any  business  come  from  not  thus  serving  an  appren- 
ticeship to  it."  Haste  is  slow.  Things  slowly  obtained  are 
long  retained.  Speculators,  who  make  money  rapidly,  gen- 
erally lose  it  with  equal  rapidity.  It  is  the  patient,  steady 
plodders  who  gain  and  keep  fortunes. 

William  H.  Webb,  the  great  shipbuilder  of  New  York,  is  a 
good  example  for  the  young  men  of  the  United  States  in  this  re- 
spect. His  father  had  won  a  fortune  in  shipbuilding,  and,  like 
many  loving  fathers,  wished  an  easier  life  for  his  favorite  boy. 
But  the  young  man  preferred  his  father's  trade,  and  determined 
to  master  it.  He  went  into  the  shipyard  like  a  common  workman, 
beginning  at  the  foot  of  the  ladder,  and  acquired  great  skill  in  the 
use  of  all  the  tools.  Soon,  even  the  experienced  hands  did  not 
equal  him  in  nicety  of  work.  He  was  still  a  young  man  when  his 
father  died,  but  he  continued  the  business,  and  won  in  it  a  high 
reputation.  He  was  the  first  man  in  the  yard  in  the  morning, 


SUCCESSFUL   MEtf   OF  TO-BAY. 

and  the  last  to  leave  it  at  night.  With  his  own  hand  he  drew 
the  model  of  every  vessel  built  therein,  wrote  in  a  book  every 
specification,  and  marked  on  the  frame  the  place  for  every 
stick  of  timber.  No  better  vessels,  either  for  war  or  com- 
merce, were  built  in  the  world  than  came  from  Webb's  yard. 
Of  the  one  hundred  and  forty  built  under  his  own  eye,  not  one 
proved  a  failure. 

Sir  Titus  Salt,  the  great  English  manufacturer  of  alpaca,  used 
to  boast,  when  he  was  a  millionaire,  that  he  could  at  a  moment's 
notice  take  the  place  of  any  workman  in  his  vast  factory.  He 
was  master  not  only  of  the  financial  but  of  the  mechanical  part 
of  his  business. 

Prof.  W.  A.  Mowry  gives  the  following  incident  :  "  A  few 
years  ago  a  young  man  went  into  a  cotton  factory  and  spent  a 
year  in  learning  the  work  in  the  cardi  fig-room.  He  then  de- 
voted another  year  to  the  spinning-room,  still  another  in  learn- 
ing how  to  weave.  He  boarded  with  the  weaver  of  one  of 
these  rooms,  and  was  often  asking  questions.  He  picked  up 
all  sorts  of  knowledge.  He  was  educating  himself  in  a  good 
school,  and  was  destined  to  graduate  high  in  his  class.  He 
became  superintendent  of  a  small  mill  at  a  salary  of  about 
$1500  a  year.  He  was  sought  for  a  higher  place.  It  hap- 
pened in  this  way  :  One  of  the  large  mills  in  Fall  River  was 
running  behindhand.  Instead  of  making  money,  the  corpora- 
tion was  losing.  They  wanted  a  first-class  man  to  direct  the 
affairs  of  the  mill.  They  applied  to  a  gentleman  in  Boston 
well  acquainted  with  the  leading  men  engaged  in  the  manufact- 
ure of  cotton.  He  told  them  he  knew  of  a  young  man  that 
would  suit  them,  but  they  would  have  to  give  him  a  good 
salary. 

* '  *  What  salary  will  he  require  ? ' 

1  I  cannot  tell,  but  I  think  you  would  have  to  pay  him 
;6000  a  year.' 

'  That   is   a   very   large    sum  ;    we    have    never    paid    so 
much. ' 

"  *  No,  probably  not,  and  you  have  never  had  a  competent 


LABOR   AND   LUCK.  215 

maji.  The  condition  of  your  mill  and  the  story  you  have  told 
me  to-day  show  the  result.  I  do  not  think  he  would  go  for 
less.  I  should  not  advise  him  to  ;  but  I  will  advise  him  to  ac- 
cept if  you  offer  him  that  salary  ;  and  I  think  he  will  save  you 
thirty  per  cent  of  the  cost  of  making  your  goods. ' 

"  The  salary  was  offered,  the  man  accepted,  and  he  saved 
nearly  forty  per  cent  of  the  cost  the  first  year.  Soon  he  had  a 
call  from  one  of  the  largest  corporations  in  New  England,  with 
whom  he  engaged  as  superintendent  for  five  years,  at  a  salary 
of  $10,000  a  year.  He  had  been  with  this  company  only 
about  one  year  before  he  had  an  offer  of  another  position,  with 
a  salary  of  $15,000  a  year.  But  he  declined  the  offer,  saying 
that  he  had  engaged  where  he  was  for  five  years,  and  he  should 
not  break  his  contract  even  for  $5000  a  year  margin." 

The  neglect  of  trades"  by  young  Americans  is  becoming  a 
subject  for  reform  agitation.  Judge  Wylie,  of  Washington, 
in  sentencing  a  young  man  to  the  penitentiary  for  larceny,  took 
occasion  to  say  that  he  could  not  see  how  a  young  man  can  get 
a  trade  now  because  the  trades-unions  control  the  matter  of 
apprenticeship.  He  attributed  "  the  universal  idleness"  of  the 
American  boy  to  the  bars  which  these  trades-unions  have  raised 
against  apprenticeships.  But  the  real  difficulty  lies  deeper. 
When  a  mechanic  or  "  greasy  operative"  who  earns  thirty  dol- 
lars a  week  by  honest  and  useful  and  skilled  toil  is  considered 
the  social  equal  of  a  clerk  who  gets  one  third  as  much  for 
measuring  tape  ;  when  our  public  schools,  by  an  industrial  de- 
partment, honor  and  encourage  manual  work  ;  when  parents 
are  willing  their  sons  should  be  trade -seekers  instead  of  office- 
seekers,  then  these  bars  will  be  quickly  broken  down  by 
public  sentiment  and  legislative  action.  Then  we  shall  have 
more  Americans  in  the  trades  and  fewer  in  the  jails.  The 
"  steal  or  starve"  brigade  will  be  transferred  to  the  ranks  of 
industry. 

There  is  always  work  enough  for  skilled  hands.  "  To  him 
that  hath  shall  be  given." 

"  There  are  too  many  dogs,"  said  a  cur  to  a  setter.     "  We 


216  SUCCESSFUL   MEN"   OF  TO-DAY. 

are  not  in  demand."  "  There  are  not  too  many  good  ones," 
replied  the  setter.* 

Would  that  there  were  more  public  school  teachers  like 
William  Dimmock,  principal  of  Adams  Academy,  of  Quincy, 
who  aimed  more  to  form  character  than  to  crowd  the  memory. 
Over  his  desk  was  a  picture  of  the  cross  entwined  with  two 
lines  from  the  poet  Herbert  : 

* '  Who  sweeps  a  room  as  for  Thy  laws, 
Makes  that  and  the  action  fine." 

About  the  cross  was  yet  another  motto  from  Carlyle  :  "  What 
hast  thou  to  do  with  happiness,  except  the  happiness  of  getting 
thy  work  well  done  ?" 

All  of  us  owe  the  world,  in  return  for  God's  gift  of  life, 
our  best  work.  We  are  "  debtors  both  to  the  wise  and  un- 
wise, ' '  to  use  all  our  opportunities  for  doing  them  good. 

*  Austin  Bierbrower. 


THERE'S  always  a  river  to  cross, 

Always  an  effort  to  make, 

If  there's  anything  good  to  win, 

Any  rich  prize  to  take  ; 

Yonder' s  the  fruit  we  crave, 

Yonder  the  charming  scene  ; 

But  deep  and  wide,  with  a  troubled  tide, 

Is  the  river  that  lies  between. 

For  the  treasures  of  precious  worth 
We  must  patiently  dig  and  dive  ; 
For  the  places  we  long  to  fill 
We  must  push,  and  struggle,  and  drive  ; 
And  always  and  everywhere 
We'll  find  in  our  onward  course, 
Thorns  for  the  feet,  and  trials  to  meet, 
And  a  difficult  river  to  cross. 

The  rougher  the  way  that  we  take, 
The  stouter  the  heart  and  the  nerve  ; 
The  stones  in  our  path  we  break, 
Nor  e'er  from  our  impulse  swerve  ; 
For  the  glory  we  hope  to  win, 
Our  labors  we  count  no  loss  ; 
'Tis  folly  to  pause  and  murmur  because 
Of  the  river  we  have  to  cross. 

So,  ready  to  do  and  to  dare, 
Should  we  in  our  places  stand, 
Fulfilling  the  Master's  will, 
Fulfilling  the  soul's  demand  ; 
For  though  as  the  mountains  high 
The  billows  may  rear  and  toss, 
They'll  not  overwhelm  if  the  Lord's  at  the  helm- 
One  more  river  to  cross. — JOSEPHINE  POLLABD. 


XXIII. 

RELATION   OF  WORK  TO  RANK. 

Of  all  the  grand  developments  of  this  grand  age,  none  is  grander 
than  the  dignity  with  which  womanly  efforts  at  self-support  have 
come  to  be  invested,  and  yet  we  occasionally  meet  with  expressions 
of  the  fossilized  idea  that  work  is  derogatory  to  a  lady,  or  at  least 
that  her  avocations,  if  she  have  such,  are  to  be  kept  as  secret  as  pos- 
sible, and  put,  so  far  as  may  be,  in  an  ambiguous  light.  "  My  daugh- 
ter cannot  content  herself  with  humdrum  home  duties,  and  so  em- 
ploys her  superfluous  energies  in  teaching."  "  My  sister  spends  all 
her  time  in  societies  and  the  like."  "  We  are  lonely  at  home,  and 
therefore  have  asked  a  few  friends  to  live  with  us  for  company, "  etc., 
etc.  How  false  and  mean  such  statements  sound  !  Would  we  not 
all  ridicule  a  man  who  said  that  he  entered  into  business  to  occupy 
his  leisure  time,  or  who  gave  out  that  he  was  not  obliged  to  work, 
but  did  so  from  caprice,  taste,  or  benevolence  ?  Why  should  a  differ- 
ent standard  be  applied  to  woman's  work  ? — M.  E.  WINSLOW. 

Not  a  truth  has  to  art  or  to  science  been  given, 

But  brows  have  ached  for  it,  and  souls  toiled  and  striven. — LYTTON. 

The  word  king  is  derived  from  a  word  that  means,  both  in  Scotch 
and  German,  "  I  can' '  and  "  I  know."  The  kingliest  of  men,  there- 
fore, are  those  who  both  know  how  to  do  and  who  can  do. — C.  S. 
ROBINSON,  D.D. 

THERE  is  not  a  trade  or  profession,  except  that  of  the  soldier, 
that  has  not  been  considered  in  some  age  and  country,  as  shep- 
herds were  in  Egypt,  "  an  abomination."  In  countries  not 
leavened  by  Christianity,  war  and  robbery  have  commonly  been 
considered  the  only  paths  to  honor. 

The  Spartans  left  agriculture  to  their  slaves.  Kleon  the 
tanner  and  Hyperbolus  the  lampmaker  are  satirized  by  Aris- 
tophanes for  presuming  to  engage  in  politics,  Savage  tribes 


SUCCESSFUL  MEN"   OF  TO-DAY. 


usually  leave  manual  work  to  their  women,  while  the  "  braves" 
themselves,  smoke,  sleep,  hunt,  and  fight  —  the  only  occupa- 
tions that  they  deem  becoming  for  a  man. 

To  the  Persians,  buying  and  selling  was  a  mean  practice,  as 
it  was  thought  impossible  to  carry  it  on  without  lying  or  cheat- 
ing, an  opinion  in  which  I  find  that  some  business  men  of  to- 
day avowedly  agree.  When  Cyrus  learned  that  the  Lacede- 
monians kept  a  market,  he  despised  them.  When  the  Lydians 
revolted  he  was  advised  by  Croesus  to  enforce  upon  them  as  a 
punishment  the  wearing  of  effeminate  clothing,  the  practice  of 
music,  and  shopkeeping  .  Ulhorn  says  that  the  Greeks  and 
Romans  despised  all  who  worked  for  money  except  those 
engaged  in  medicine,  architecture,  and  commerce.  War  was 
still  more  honorable  than  these. 

In  the  first  act  of  Shakespeare's  Julius  Caesar  a  carpenter 
and  cobbler  are  reproved  because,  "  being  mechanical,  they 
ought  not  to  walk  upon  a  laboring  day  without  the  sign  of  their 
profession"  —  the  leather  apron,  rule,  etc.  In  the  caste  distinc- 
tions of  India,  Egypt  (of  the  past),  and  other  countries,  the 
priests  usually  occupy  the  first  rank,  soldiers  the  second,  and 
mechanics  of  different  kinds  the  third,  fourth,  and  fifth.  Our 
caste  distinctions  that  exalt  a  clerkship  above  a  trade,  and  make 
domestic  service  less  honorable  for  a  girl  than  work  in  a  manu- 
factory, are  quite  as  foolish.  "  The  employes  of  a  mill-owner 
or  a  merchant  are  as  much  his  *  servants  '  as  any  housemaid  is 
the  servant  of  her  employer,  and  in  precisely  the  same  sense. 
Any  one  who  takes  wages  for  work  is  a  servant  of  the  one  who 
employs  and  pays  him  ;  and  no  woman  can  escape  being  a  ser- 
vant if  she  earns  money  by  honest  labor." 

Literary  workers  have  also  been  as  lightly  esteemed.  In 
Rome  there  was  a  class  of  slaves  who  did  the  studying  and 
writing  for  their  masters.  They  were  called  the  literati,  then 
by  no  means  a  term  of  honor. 

Even  in  modern  times  Walter  Scott  was  obliged  to  conceal  his 
business  partnership  in  the  publishing  house  of  Constable 
Brothers  in  order  to  preserve  his  social  standing.  •  A  relic  of 


RELATION   OF   WORK   TO   RANK.  221 

this  barbarism  still  lingers,  and  prevents  many  a  young  lady  of 
talent  among  the  wealthy  from  using  her  pen,  lest  she  suffer  in 
the  estimation  of  her  associates. 

"  Why  is  he  called  a  '  working-man  '  who  uses  a  spade  or  a 
plane  or  a  heavy  hammer,  in  distinction  from  him  who  uses  a 
pen  ?  Why  is  he  a  '  working-man  '  who  uses  his  hands  for  ten 
hours  a  day,  any  more  than  he  who  uses  his  hands  and,  what 
is  more,  his  head,  too,  for  fifteen  hours  of  the  twenty- four  ?" 

It  is  refreshing  to  turn  from  such  man-made  follies  to  God's 
original  plan,  and  see  man  in  honor,  man  in  bliss,  man  in  pu- 
rity, AT  WORK.  "  The  Lord  God  took  the  man  and  put  him 
into  the  Garden  of  Eden  to  dress  it  and  to  keep  it. ' ' 

"  When  Adam  delved  and  Eve  span, 
Who  was  then  the  gentleman  ?" 

Look  along  the  catalogue  of  God's  greatest  servants,  and  see 
how  universally  they  come  from  the  busy  walks  of  life.  Abel, 
Joseph,  Moses,  David,  Amos  were  shepherds,  called  from  their 
flocks  to  thrones  on  earth  and  in  glory.  Noah  was  a  ship- 
builder ;  Abraham  and  Jacob  were  stock-raisers  ;  Isaac,  Job,  and 
Elisha  were  farmers  ;  Peter,  James,  and  John  were  fishermen  ; 
Matthew  was  a  tax-collector,  Luke  a  physician,  and  Christ  a 
carpenter. 

Among  God's  chosen  people,  instead  of  a  contempt  of  labor, 
even  the  children  of  wealth  and  the  sons  of  literary  men,  as  I 
have  said,  were  accustomed  to  learn  a  trade.  For  instance, 
Saul  or  Paul,  though  a  member  of  Israel's  supreme  court  or 
Sanhedrim,  had  learned  the  trade  of  a  tentmaker. 

The  parables  of  Christ  unconsciously  put  the  same  honor  upon 
honest  labor.  The  Father  is  "  The  Husbandman  ;"  the  Son  is 
the  Shepherd,  the  Lord  of  the  Vineyard,  and  the  Advocate. 

The  kingdom  of  heaven,  grand  and  glorious  as  it  is,  is  li- 
kened to  a  housekeeper  putting  leaven  in  her  meal  ;  to  a  farmer 
sowing  and  reaping  ;  to  a  fisherman  sorting  his  fish  ;  to  a  mer- 
chant seeking  goodly  pearls. 


SUCCESSFUL  MEN   OF  TO-DAY. 


The  whole  Bible  is  thus  interwoven  in  the  closest  sympathies 
with  active  business  life,  and  that  too  in  an  age  when  in  all 
other  lands  work  was  despised. 

It  is  to  the  shepherds  of  Horeb  and  Bethlehem  that  God  re- 
veals Himself  in  the  burning  bush  and  the  Heavenly  light.  The 
shepherd  to-day,  as  he  looks  on  the  bushes  and  trees  glowing 
with  flowers  or  autumn  leaves,  as  if  the  heavenly  flame  was 
in  their  midst  again,  or  looking  into  sunset  skies  when  the 
"  glory  of  the  Lord  shines  upon  them,"  should  feel  that  the 
God  of  Horeb  and  Bethlehem  is  nigh  at  hand  and  not  afar  off, 
and  that  He  is  saying  once  more,  "  Certainly  I  will  be  with 
thee,"  and  whispering  again  the  message  of  "  Peace." 

The  housekeeper,  as  she  remembers  amid  her  cares  the 
widow's  cruse  and  who  kept  it  from  failing,  and  the  miraculous 
supply  at  the  wedding-feast  of  Cana,  should  realize  the  sym- 
pathy of  God  in  her  work,  and  gild  her  labors  with  songs  and 
thoughts  of  Him  who  has  bidden  us  pray,  "  Give  us  this  day 
our  daily  bread,"  and  who  has  given  the  promise,  '*  God  will 
provide. ' ' 

The  fisherman  amid  his  labors  and  his  perils  should  remem- 
ber joyfully  who  walked  the  seas  of  old  and  made  the  storm  a 
calm. 

"  Tossed  upon  the  raging  billow, 
Sweet  it  is,  0  Lord,  to  know 
Thou  didst  press  a  sailor's  pillow, 
And  canst  feel  a  sailor's  woe." 

It  is  a  false  and  unchristian  sentiment  that  in  some  places 
makes  peculiarity  of  employment  rather  than  excellence  of 
achievement  the  badge  of  honor  ;  that  asks  where  we  work,  not 
how,  as  the  test  of  our  position.  An  absurd  instance  of  this 
folly  was  given  in  the  suicide  of  a  young  man  who  left  a  note 
saying  that  he  was  made  by  God  to  be  a  man,  but  doomed  by 
man  to  be  a  grocer. 

It  is  not  the  mark  or  prerogative  of  high  position  to 
have  nothing  to  do.  Ninety  out  of  every  hundred  on  the 


RELATION  OF  WORK  TO  RANK.  223 

Massachusetts  State  prison  record  of  a  recent  year  had  the 
words  "  no  trade"  against  their  names.  Men  of  leisure  are  not 
always  men  of  rank. 

Thank  God  for  a  nation  of  workmen,  a  nation  where  the  pro- 
fessional man  and  the  merchant,  as  well  as  the  day  laborer,  "  by 
something  attempted,  something  done,  have  earned  a  night's 
repose." 

Away  with  the  folly  that  idleness  is  kingliness.  It  is  the 
diligent  in  earthly  and  heavenly  work  to  whom  is  given  the 
promise  to  stand  before  kings  in  this  world,  and  that  they 
shall  before  THE  KING  in  the  next,  as  did  Joseph,  David,  Dan- 
iel, Mordecai,  and  Paul.  "  Be  thou  faithful  over  a  few  things, 
and  I  will  make  thee  ruler  over  many  things." 

Some  one  has  aptly  said,  "  When  you  can  dig  fields  with 
toothpicks,  blow  ships  along  with  fans,  and  grow  bread  in 
flower-pots,  then  it  will  be  a  fine  time  for  dandies.  There  is 
plenty  to  do  in  this  world  for  every  pair  of  hands  placed  upon 
it,  and  we  must  so  work  that  the  world  will  be  the  richer  be- 
cause of  our  having  lived  in  it." 


FINIS. 


ISICHES  xSCe  ivmos. 


A   FEW    AUTOGRAPHS. 


APPENDIX. 


WE  subjoin  here  a  few  representative  specimens  of  the  re- 
plies received  from  prominent  and  representative  men  to  the 
questions  on  page  1,  which  are  as  follows  : 

INQUIRIES. 

[FOR   THE    BENEFIT    OF    YOUNG    MEN.] 

1.  Was  your  boyhood,  up  to  fourteen  years  of  age,  spent  in 
the  country,  in  a  village,  or  in  a  city  ? 

2.  In  either  case,  were  you  accustomed  to  engage  in  some 
regular  work,  when  out  of  school,  either  in  the  way  of  self- 
help,  or  for  your  parents  ? 

3.  At  what  age  did  you  begin  business  life  or  undertake  self- 
support  ? 

4.  Did  you  use  tobacco  previous  to  the  age  of  sixteen  ? 

5.  What  maxims  or  watchwords,  if  any,  have  had  a  strong 
influence  on  your  life  and  helped  to  your  success  ? 

6.  What  do  you  consider  essential  elements  of  success  for  a 
young  man  entering  upon  such  a  business  or  profession   as 
yours  ? 

7.  What,  in  your  observation,  have  been  the  chief  causes  of 
the  numerous  failures  in  life  of  business  and  professional  men  ? 

8.  Are  you  a  church  member  ? 

ANSWERS. 

MARK  HOPKINS,   D.D.,   LL.D.,  ex- President  of   Williams 
College  : 
1.   Country. 


226  APPENDIX. 

2.  Yes. 

5.  None. 

6.  Capacity  and  determined  purpose. 

7.  Want  of  above. 

FRANKLIN  CARTER,  LL.D.,  President  of  Williams  College  : 
1.  Village. 

6.  Concentration  of  mind. 

7.  Want  of  the  above  quality  and  of  devotion  to  truth. 

HON.  ANDREW   D.  WHITE,  LL.D.,  ex-ambassador  to  Ger- 
many, President  of  Cornell  University  : 

1.  Village. 

2.  No  ;  and  I  consider  this  as  a  matter  of  regret. 

5.  Such  maxims  as  inculcate  a  kindly  contempt  for  purpose- 
less men,  or  men  who  through  their  own  fault  become  failures. 

6.  Soundness   of   heart   and   mind  ;    clear  judgment  ;    fair 
knowledge   of  men  ;  great  devotion  to  some  one  purpose  or 
study,  but  with  breadth  of  view. 

7.  Want   of  will ;    over-smartness  ;   unwillingness  to   labor 
and  wait. 

CHARLES  W.  ELIOT,  LL.D.,  President  of  Harvard  University  : 

1.  City. 

2.  No. 

5.  I  do  not  remember  any. 

6.  Intelligence,  alacrity,  energy,  good  judgment,  and   up- 
Tightness. 

Y.  Stupidity,  laziness,  rashness,  and  dishonesty. 

HON.  J.  H.  SEELYE,  LL.D.,  ex-Congressman,  President  of 
Amherst  College  : 

1.  In  a  country  village. 

2.  Yes. 

5.  Never  to  seek  work,  and  never  to  refuse  it. 

6.  Patiently  to  wait  for  it. 

7.  Undue  haste. 


APPENDIX.  227 

PRESIDENT  S.  C.  BARTLETT,  D.D.,  of  Dartmouth  College  : 

1.  Village. 

2.  Not  regularly. 

5.  The  simple  purpose  to  do  well  all  I  had  to  do. 

6.  Conscientious  diligence. 

7.  Lack  of  principle,  of  fixed  purpose,  of  perseverance. 

C.  N.  SIMMS,  D.D.,  Chancellor  of  Syracuse  University  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Worked  on  the  farm  twelve  to  fourteen  hours  a  day. 

6.  Conscientiousness,  systematic  industry,  heart  in  his  work. 

7.  Lack  of  self-forgetful  work,  insincerity,  indolence. 

PRESIDENT  JOSEPH  MOORE,  of  Abingdon  College,  Richmond, 
Ind.  : 

1.  Spent  in  country  on  farm. 

2.  Worked  for  parents  year  round  when  not  in  school,  and 
then  early  and  late  evenings  and  mornings. 

5.  Remember    no    special    maxims.    A    Christian    mother, 
plenty  of  work,  the   Bible,   Pilgrim's  Progress,   and  another 
plain  book  or  two  made  me  early  see  that  life  was  too  serious 
for  trifling. 

6.  That  he   take    care    of   his  health  ;  that  he  act  on   the 
principle  that  devotion  and  application  to  duty  are  essential 
after  success  is  secured  as  truly  as  before. 

7.  I  believe  one  of  the  most  common  causes  of  failure  to  be, 
acting  from  policy  rather   than   from   Christian  principle  ;  (2) 
undertaking  the  wrong  pursuit. 

JOSEPH  COOK  : 

1.  In  the  country  up  to  fourteen  ;  afterward  in  villages  and 
cities. 

2.  Yes  ;  but  I  was  never  overworked  physically  ;  perhaps 
six  hours  a  day  is  a  high  average. 

3.  Not  until  about  thirty-five  years  of  age.     My  father  gave 
me  twenty -five  years  of  education,  including  foreign  travel. 

5.  Clear  ideas  at  any  cost ;  obedience  to  God,  the  organ  of 
spiritual  knowledge  ;  total  self -surrender  to  conscience. 


228  APPENDIX. 

6.  Complete  self -surrender  to  God,  clear  thought,  varied  and 
accurate  learning. 

7.  Dishonesty,  cowardice,  indolence. 

HON.  WILLIAM  WINDOM,  ex-Secretary  of  Treasury,  ex-Senator : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Yes. 

3.  Sixteen. 

JUDGE  NOAH  DAVIS,  Chief  Justice,  of  New  York  : 

1.  In  a  village. 

2.  I  was  accustomed  to  regular  work,  both  for  my  parents 
and  for  self-help. 

5.  I  do  not  recall  any  particular  maxim  or  watchword  which 
I  can  say  has  had  a  strong  influence  on  my  life,  or  helped  me 
to  success. 

6.  The  profession  of  the  law  requires,  to  achieve  complete 
success,  great  industry,  strict  integrity,  and  exclusive  devotion 
to  its  duties  and  labors. 

7.  Impatience,  or  the  inability  "  to  labor  and  to  wait.'9     It 
is  the  misfortune  of  our  country  and  age  that  riches  are  deemed 
the  chief  source  of  honor.     The  haste  to  get  rich  pervades  and 
controls  all  business  and  professions,  and  leads  to  rash  and  ill- 
advised  efforts,  risks  and  speculations,  which  result  in  failure 
oftener  than  in  success.     It  leads  into  temptations,  fraud,  crime, 
and  despair. 

JUDGE  GEORGE  G.  REYNOLDS,  of  the  City  Court  of  Brooklyn  : 

1.  On  a  farm. 

2.  Brought  up  to  work,  going  to  school  only  winters  until 
college  days.     Even  in  school  days  did  chores  night  and  morn- 
ing and  worked  Saturdays  and  vacations. 

6.  A  stubborn  determination  to  succeed,  and  some  enthusiasm 
both  in  the  anticipation  and  pursuit  of  the  profession  which  I 
chose.  Secrets  of  success  in  general  :  Capacity  and  adapts- 


APPENDIX.  229 

tion  ;  tlien  industry,  perseverance,  pluck — as  well  as  good  luck 
—and  emphatically  integrity  and  a  high  sense  of  honor. 

HON.  ALEXANDER  H.  STEPHENS,  ex-Vice-President  of  South- 
ern Confederacy,  ex-Congressman,  ex-Governor  of  Georgia  (de- 
ceased since  sending  reply)  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Always  at  work'  when  not  at  school. 

5.  *'  Time  and  tide  wait  for  no  man."     "  Take  time  by  the 
forelock."     "Labor  omnia  vincit."     "Nil  desperandum." 

6.  Truth,  honesty,  uprightness,  honor,  conscientiousness. 

7.  Want  of  punctuality,  honesty,  and  truth. 

HON.  J.  P.  ST.  JOHN,  ex-Governor  of  Kansas  : 

1.  Mostly  in  a  village. 

2.  Engaged  in  regular  work. 

5.  The  good  advice,  prayers,  and  example  of  a  noble  Chris- 
tian mother  have  had  a  good  influence  on  all  my  life.     Though 
long  since  dead,  she  has  been  a  beacon  light  to  me. 

6.  Honesty,  industry,  sobriety,  Christianity. 

7.  Idleness,  intemperance. 

HON.  DARWIN  R.  JAMES,  Member  of  Congress  from  Brook- 
lyn : 

1.  In  the  country  all  of  the  time  until  twelve  years  old  ; 
then  at  boarding-school  most  of  time. 

2.  Although  my  father,  who  came  to  Williamsburg  (now 
Brooklyn)  when  I  was  twelve  years  old,  was  well  to  do,  yet  he 
brought  his  boys  up   to  work  when  out  of  school.       We  had 
plenty  of  play,  but  we  were  taught  to  be  industrious,  diligent, 
and  economical. 

5.  I  set  out,  when  a  young  man,  with  two  texts  of  Scripture 
as  mottoes  :  "  A  good  name  is  rather  to  be  chosen  than 
great  riches,"  etc.,  and  "  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  and 
his  righteousness."  These  had  a  great  influence  upon  me.  At 
the  age  of  eighteen  I  commenced  in  mission  Sunday-school 


230  APPENDIX. 

work  in  what  is  now  the  Throop  Avenue  Mission  Sunday-school. 
I  have  continued  steadily  at  it  in  that  field  for  thirty  years 
next  month. 

6.  This  is  a  very  hard  question  to  answer.     What  is  suc- 
cess ?     What  kind  of  success  do  you  mean  ?     True  success  is 
the  building  up  of  a  strong  Christian  character  and  the  using 
of  one's  faculties  for  the  glory  of  God.     Religion  which  in- 
fluences the  daily  life  is  the  basis  ;  strict  truthfulness,  which 
is  an  outgrowth  of  it ;  integrity  of  character,   industry,   per- 
severance,  temperate  and  simple  habits,   correct  views  of  life 
and  mankind,  humility,  etc.,  etc. 

7.  Incorrect  views  of  the  great  end  and  aim  of  life.     Men 
are  not  contented  to  lead  plain  lives  of  integrity  and  upright- 
ness.    They  want  to  get  ahead  too  fast,  and  are  led  into  temp- 
tation. 

I  am  glad  you  are  working  up  this  subject.  I  wish  you 
great  success.  If  young  men  only  would  study  their  Bibles  ! 
Pleasure,  show,  money,  is  the  aim  of  the  crowd. 

HON.  NELSON  DINGLE Y,  ex-Governor  of  Maine,  M.  C.,  editor 
of  Lewiston  Journal  : 

1.  Village. 

2.  Worked  on  farm. 

6.  Character,  industry,  perseverance. 

7.  Lack  of  the  power  of -practical  adaptation. 

HON.  C.  B.  FARWELL,  M.  C.,  Chicago  : 

1.  In  the  country. 

2.  Worked  on  my  father's  farm    until  I  was  past  twenty 
years  of  age. 

5.  Spend    less    than   you    earn    each    year,    and    practice 
economy.     Buy  nothing  unless  needed. 

6.  Integrity  with  money,  but   integrity  without ;  integrity 
even  as  a  policy. 

7.  Want  of  integrity  first,  and  of  capacity  second. 


APPENDIX.  231 

HON.  WILLIAM  ALDRICH,  M.  C.,  Chicago  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Yes,  and  was  kept  out  of  school  in  busy  seasons  to  help 
upon  the  farm  before  I  was  ten  years  old. 

5.  Absolutely  to  drink  nothing  that  could  intoxicate.     In- 
dustry, integrity,  and  to  spend  less  than  I  earned,  were  taught 
me  by  both  my  parents. 

6.  To  adopt  the  maxims  above,  and  make  himself  master  of 
his  business  by  a  thorough  comprehension  of  it. 

7.  First,  trusting  dishonest,  incompetent,  and  importunate 
men  ;  second,  a  want  of  sufficient  industry  to  comprehend  and 
thoroughly  understand  their  own  business  ;  third,  intemperance 
beats  everybody. 

HON.  RIPLEY  ROPES,   Superintendent  of    Brooklyn    Public 
Works  : 

1.  Seaport  town. 

2.  My  parents  were    poor,  and  insisted  upon  my  forming 
habits  of  industry,  beginning  with  ten  years  of  age. 

5.  To  avoid  idleness,  and  to  be  so  faithful  to  my  employers 
in  the  discharge  of  all  duties  imposed  that  my  help  would  be- 
come a  necessity. 

6.  Industry,  economy,  and  strict  integrity.     Without  these, 
few  succeed  in  any  business  or  profession. 

7.  Not  pursuing  industriously   and  contentedly  the   calling 
which  they  originally  adopted.     Making  haste  to  be  rich  by 
seeking    to  follow  those   supposed  to  be  gaining  faster  and 
easier,  thus  dividing  time  and  energy.     The  great  highway  of 
life  is  strewn  with  wrecks  of    this  character.      There  is  no 
failure  in  this  country   with  those  whose  personal  habits  are 
good,  and  who  follow    any  honest  calling  industriously,   un- 
selfishly, and  purely.     To  such,  success  is  sure. 

HON.  JOSEPH  MEDILL,  proprietor  of  Chicago   Tribune,   ex- 
Mayor  of  Chicago : 
1.  Mainly  on  a  farm. 


232  APPENDIX. 

2.  I  worked  hard  at  farm  labor  for  my  parents. 

5.  "  Poor    Richard's"    maxims  ;    the    Golden    Rule,    and 
"  Honesty  is  the  best  policy." 

6.  Sobriety,  avoidance  of  intoxicating  drinks  and  all  forms 
of  gambling,  a  virtuous  life,  fidelity  to  employers  or  clients, 
close  study,  hard  work,  honesty. 

1.  Liquor-drinking,  gambling,  reckless  speculation,  dishon- 
esty, tricky  conduct,  cheating,  idleness,  shirking  hard  work, 
frivolous  reading,  lack  of  manhood  in  the  battle  of  life,  failure 
to  improve  opportunities. 

HON.  WILLIAM  BROSS,  ex-Lieutenant-Governor  of  Illinois, 
and  editor  of  Chicago  Tribune : 

1.  Village. 

2.  In  daily  farm  and  other  labor  in  the  village  of  Milford, 
Pa.,   and   lumbering  along    the  Delaware   River.     Always  in 
regular  work  for  my  parents  till  past  eighteen,  then  in  teaching, 
and  working  my  way  through  college  as  best  I  could. 

5.  The  proverbs  of  Solomon  and  other  Scriptures,  and  Frank- 
lin's Poor   Richard's   preface   to   his   almanacs.     They  were 
quoted  a  thousand  times  by  my  honored  father,  and  caused  an 
effort  to  do  my  whole  duty  each  day,  under  a  constant  sense  of 
my  duty  to  my  Maker  and  my  fellow-men. 

6.  Sterling,  unflinching  integrity  in  all  matters,  public  and 
private.     Let  every  one  do  his  whole  duty  each  day  both  to 
God  and  man.     Let  him  follow  earnestly  the  teachings  of  the 
Scriptures  and  eschew  infidelity  in  all  its  forms. 

7.  Want   of   integrity,   careless   of   the   truth,   reckless   in 
thought  and  expression,  want  of  trust  in  God  and  disregard  of 
the  teachings  of  his  Word,  bad  company,  bad  morals  in  any  of 
their  phases. 

HON.  BENJAMIN  DOUGLAS,  ex-Lieutenant-Governor  of  Con- 
necticut, and  manufacturer  of  pumps,  Middletown,  Ct.  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  When  not  in  school,  I  worked  on  the  farm,  doing  gen- 


APPENDIX.  233 

eral  farm  work  and  chores,  as  our  Connecticut  farmers'  boys 
had  to  do  fifty  years  ago. 

5.  "A  rolling  stone  gathers  no  moss. ' '     Have  one  good 
business,  and  stick  to  it. 

6.  Be  honest  in  all  your  dealings ;  abstain  from  the  use  of 
all  intoxicating  drinks  ;  Remember  the  Sabbath  day  and  keep 
it  holy  ;  be  a  Christian. 

7.  Rum,   idleness,  and   neglect  of   business ;  entering   into 
operations  outside  of  their  regular  business. 

DAVID  M.  STONE,  editor  of  the  New  York  Journal  of  Com- 
merce : 

1.  Country. 

2.  I  left  home  at  thirteen  years  and  eleven  months,  and  have 
supported  myself  ever  since. 

5.  Do  faithfully  what  is  next  to  your  hand. 

6.  A  purpose  and  determination  to  make  one's  self  of  use 
in  the  world  in  the  way  prudence  seems  to  point  out,  and  a 
knowledge  of  the  fact  that  success  comes  only  to  those  who 
can  do  three  days'  work  in  one  day  and  keep  it  up  through 
life. 

7.  Laziness,  indisposition  to  work  hard,  a  desire  to  take 
things  easy. 

W.  K.  SULLIVAN,  editor  of  Chicago  Journal  : 

1.  In  a  city. 

2.  Never  did  regular  work,  but  played  all  I  could  until  I  was 
sixteen,  when  I  began  to  earn  my  own  living. 

5.  First,  the  Golden  Rule  ;  second,  An  honest  man  is  the 
noblest  work  of  God  ;  third,  Contentment  is  better  than  riches 
(and  I  am  glad  of  it,  for  I  never  had  the  riches)  ;  fourth,  Be 
just  and  fear  not  ;  fifth,  What  man  has  done,   man  can  do  ; 
sixth,  Never  say  die. 

6.  General  knowledge  of  men  and  things,  an  itch  for  writ- 
ing,  a  "nose  for  news,"  courage,   enterprise,   honesty,   so- 
briety,  patience,    perseverance,    industry,  good  judgment ;  a 


234  APPENDIX. 

sound  mind  in  a  sound  body  ;  to  be  born  to  the  profession,  for 
journalists,  like  poets,  are  *'  born,  not  made." 

7.  Intemperance  and  immorality  (wine  and  women)  ;  a  desire 
to  become  suddenly  rich,  which  leads  to  speculation  and  gam- 
bling ;  a  wrong  start  in  life.  (By  the  way,  every  boy  should 
have  a  trade — be  a  producer,  not  a  consumer.  The  next  gen- 
eration promises  to  contain  an  alarming  number  of  genteel  loaf- 
ers, who  don't  want  to  earn  their  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their 
brows,  but  by  their  wits.  Idleness  produces  vice,  etc.) 

A.  G.  LANE,  Superintendent  of  Schools,  Chicago  : 

1.  Chicago. 

2.  Yes. 

5.  Never  give  up  one  job  till  you  get  another. 

6.  Unswerving  fidelity  to  God  and  the  right,  study  and  work. 

7.  Laziness,  pride,  and  dishonesty  in  little  things. 

GENERAL  O.  O.  HOWARD  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  When  out  of   school,  worked   regularly   at  farm  work. 
Taught  several  schools  in  winter  and  fall  to  help  in  securing 
college  education. 

5.  First  remembered  maxim,  Obey  your  parents  in  the  Lord  ; 
second,  Seek  first  the  kingdom  of  God  ;  third,  The  Lord  is  my 
Shepherd  ;  fourth  (and  help  in  conversion),  The  blood  of  Jesus 
Christ,  His  Son,  cleanseth  from  all  sin  ;  fifth,  BushnelPs  subject, 
"  Every  man's  life  a  plan  of  God  ;"  sixth,  Love  God  and  man. 

6.  For  complete  success,  cheerful  obedience,  diligence,  fear- 
lessness ;  readiness  at  all  times  for  complete  self  sacrifice  ;   un- 
reserved confidence  in  the  Ruler  of  all  things,  so  as  to  be  able 
to  bear  victory  or  defeat  ;  to  rise  high  enough  in  nobility  of 
character  to  be  without  the  fear,  hatred,  envy,  or  jealousy  of  a 
rival  or  an  enemy. 

GENERAL  JOHN  A.  LOGAN,  IT.  S.  Senator : 

1.  Country. 

2.  I  worked  on  a  farm  for  my  parents. 


APPENDIX.  235 

5.  All  men  are  equal  if  upright  aud  honest.     Stick  to  your 
friends  in  adversity  as  well  as  prosperity. 

6.  Unceasing  labor. 

7.  Trying  to  do  too  many  things,  instead  of  sticking  to  the 
thing  one  knows  most  about. 

GENERAL  NEAL  Dow,  ex-May  or  of  Portland,  Me.,  and  author 
of  Maine  Law  : 

1.  In  my  native  city — Portland. 

2.  Not  until  I  left  school  ;  then  in  regular  employment. 

5.  Res  non  verba.     Always  try  to  be  on  the  side  of  the  right, 
always  against  the  wrong.     Always  be  prompt,  and  true  to  en- 
gagements and  to  well-founded  expectations.     Never  to  shrink 
from  a  just  share  of  work  or  responsibility. 

6.  To  be  industrious,  steady,  faithful,  prompt,  true.     Busi- 
ness always  before  pleasure.     Never  put  off  until  to-morrow 
what  can  be  well  done  to-day.     Incur  no  responsibility  that 
cannot  be  met  without  distress. 

7.  A  want  of  knowledge  of  the  business,  or  of  ability,  or  of  a 
character  and  habits  to  inspire  confidence  and  respect.     To  be 
true  to  one's  word  is  to  a  business  or  professional  man  what 
the  compass  is  to  the  mariner.     That  implies  integrity  and  a 
real  love  of  right. 

HON.    LEVI  TAYLOR,   banker  and  ex-Mayor    of   Haverhill, 
Mass.  : 

6.  A  taste   for  the  calling  which  one   intends  to  pursue. 
Honesty  of  purpose  and  strict  integrity  in  dealing  I  regard 
as  essential  elements  of  success  in  any  calling  or  profession. 

7.  Want  of  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  business,  lack  of 
application,  and  undue  haste  to  accumulate,  which  usually  leads 
to  great  risk,  are  among  the  principal  causes  of  failure. 

HON.  J.  E.  BOYD,  Mayor  of  Omaha  : 
2.  In  regular  work  and  helping  niy  parents. 
5.   "  Take  advantage  of  none,  and  give  every  man  his  due." 
Never  fail  to  keep  a  promise. 


236  APPENDIX. 

6.  Punctuality,  industry,  integrity,  temperance. 

7.  Intemperance  and  the  inordinate  gratification  of  their  pas- 
sions.    (I  am  not  a  Prohibitionist.) 

SAMUEL  BURNS,  merchant.  Omaha,  Neb.  : 

1.  City. 

2.  Always. 

5.  Work,  economize,  persevere  ;  commit  thy  ways  unto  the 
Lord,  and  He  WILL  direct  thy  paths. 

"  A  purpose  once  fixed,  and  then  victory  or  death."  "  Trust 
in  the  Lord  and  do  good,  and  verily  thou  shalt  be  fed. ' ' 

7.  Vacillation,  want  of  sticktoitativeness,  becoming  surety 
for  a  stranger. 

GENERAL  A.  C.  McCLURG,  of  the  firm  of  Jansen  &  McClurg, 
Chicago  : 

1.  Altogether  in  a  city. 

2.  Did  no  regular  work,  but  was  fond  of  reading. 

5.  First,  It  is  better  to  deserve  success  than  to  have  it  ; 
second  (for  times  of  depression  and  adversity),  the  doctrine  of 
the  Greek  tragedians — that  the  gods  see  no  nobler  sight  than 
an  honest  man  contending  with  adversity. 

6.  Integrity,  embracing  perfect  truthfulness,  absolute   hon- 
esty, and  general  trustworthiness  ;  good  judgment,  willingness 
and  ability  to  work. 

HON.  GEORGE  R.  WENDLING,  lawyer  and  lecturer  : 

1.  Village. 

2.  When  out  of  school,  engaged  in  work  about  home. 

5.  A  strict  observance  of  the  fourth  commandment  has  been 
iny  nearest  approach  to  singling  out  some  one  maxim  or  rule 
in  business. 

6.  An  entire  consecration  and  concentration  of  one's  whole 
attention  and  ability  on  the  matter  in  hand,  and  habits  which 
do  not  injure  physical  health,  and  prayer. 

7.  Living  beyond  one's  means,  and  intemperance. 


APPENDIX.  237 

ANTHONY  COMSTOCK,  agent  of  the  Society  for  the  Suppres- 
sion of  Vice  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Was  trained  to  industry,  and  obliged  to  work,  and  thank 
God  for  it. 

5.  "Faithful   in   least,  faithful   also   in  much."     "God's 
will."     "  Be  not  weary  in  well-doing,  for  in  due  season  ye 
shall  reap  if  ye  faint  not. ' ' 

6.  Consecration  to  the  service  of  God  ;  perfect  faith  and 
trust  in  Him  ;  moral  courage  and  untiring  zeal.     A  good  text  : 
"  Wise  as  serpents,  and  harmless  as  doves." 

7.  Unholy  living  and  dishonest  practices  ;  lust   and  intem- 
perance ;  living  beyond  one's  means. 

JOHN  WANAMAKER,  clothing  merchant  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  During  school  days  worked  before  school ;  left  country 
school  early,  and  went  to  work. 

5.  "  He  is  a  re  warder  of  them  that  diligently  seek  Him." 
"  Doe  ye  nexte  thynge." 

6.  Close  application,  integrity,  attention  to  detail,   discreet 
advertising. 

7.  Going  into  business  too  young,  overcrowding  of  business 
ranks. 

S.  E.  HOLDEN,  leather  dealer  of  the  firm  of  B.  F.  Sawyer  & 
Co.,  Napa,  Cal.  : 

5.  "Be  sure  you  are  right,  then  go  ahead."     "  Make  every 
article  reliable." 

6.  Experience  and  education  ;  then  courage  and  application, 
with  honor  and  reliability. 

7.  Among   professional    men   in  California,    intemperance ; 
among  business  men,  lack  of  enterprise  and  often  lack  of  ability. 

THOMAS  J.  HILL,  manufacturer,  Providence,  R.  I.  : 
1.   Village. 


238  APPENDIX. 

2.   Out  of  school  worked  to  help  support  the  family. 

5.  To  be  honest  and  industrious  ;  to  put  whatever  I  saw  out 
of  place  in  its  proper  place  ;  and  above  all,  not  to  spend  my 
money  before  I  had  earned  it. 

6.  To  be  very  prompt  in  meeting  engagements,  and  not  put 
off  until  to-morrow  what  can  be  done  to-day. 

7.  Lack  of  system  and  attention  to  business  ;  trusting  too 
much  to  others,  and  not  looking  after  the  small  details  of  busi- 
ness ;    dissipation,  extravagance,    and  idleness.     Indorsing  ac- 
commodation paper  makes  a  failure  many  times  in  business. 

LEWIS  MILLER,  manufacturer,  Akron,  O.  : 

1.  On  a  farm  close  to  a  village. 

2.  Working  on  a  farm  for  my  father. 

5.  My  early  connection  with  the  church  did  more  than  all 
else  ;  Henry  Funk,  a  man  I  loved,  was  my  model  of  goodness. 

6.  Determination,  pluck,  and  perseverance. 

7.  Fluctuation  of  the  national  currency,  our  credit  system, 
the  popular  notion  of  making  a  fortune  in  a  short  time. 

F.  F.  ELMENDORF,   President   of  National  Law  and   Order 
League  : 

1.  Village. 

2.  Light  farm  work  outside  of  school  hours. 

6.  First,  study  to  know  what  you  are  adapted  to  ;  second, 
sticktoitiveness  ;  third,  cultivate  a  healthy  body,  and  thus  get  a 
healthy  brain  also. 

7.  First,   bad  habits  ;  second,  insufficient  training  for  one's 
business  ;    third,    extravagance  ;     fourth,    speculation  ;    fifth, 
passion  to  be  rich  without  work  ;  sixth,  postponing  marriage 
on  account  of  style  of  living  ;  then  Just  and  other  vices. 

HON.    D.    F.    BEATTY,    Mayor  of  Washington,   N.   J.,  and 
manufacturer  of  organs,  etc.  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  On  a  farm. 


APPENDIX.  239 

6.  First   of   all,  remember  God ;    second,  enterprise — look 
ahead,  never  backward. 

7.  Neglect  of  business,  rum,  and  women. 

JACOB  ESTEY,  organ  manufacturer  : 

1.  In  the  country. 

2.  I  was  given  away  by  my  parents  at  four  and  a  half  years 
of  age,  and  was  obliged  to  work  hard  on  a  farm  from  eight 
years  old,  with  little  schooling. 

6.  I  commenced  business  at  twenty  years  of  age,  with  a  de- 
termination to  succeed,  and   by   economy   and  trusting  God, 
praying  for   wisdom  and  strength  to  do  every  duty,  and   with 
good  health,  have  been  as  successful  as  I  could  have  expected. 
Secrets  of  success  :  Economy,  avoid  the  use  of  tobacco  and  all 
stimulants,  and  bad  company. 

7.  Extravagance  in  living  beyond  one's  means. 

CHARLES  SCOTT,  manufacturer,  Philadelphia  : 

1.  Philadelphia. 

2.  From  my  thirteenth  year  I  was  always  engaged  in  some 
regular  work  when  out  of  school,  either  for  my  parents  or 
others. 

5.  I  joined  the  church  when  thirteen  years  old,  and  always 
considered  it  a  duty  to  be  doing  something  to  help  others. 

6.  Consecration  of  life  to  God  ;  a  determination  to  be  useful 
in  the  world,  so  that  the  world  may  be  better  for  his  having 
lived  in  it ;  always  to  be  faithful  and  honest  in  all  matters  and 
under  all  circumstances. 

7.  Bad  company,  bad  habits,  dishonesty  in  little  things  as 
well  as  great. 

J.    E.    WILSON,    senior   member    of    the   firm   of   Wilson 
Brothers,  Chicago,  Cincinnati,  and  St.  Louis  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Yes,  for  parents. 

5.  tlDo  as  y&u  wish  to  be  done  by.11     "  Honesty  is  the  best 


240  APPENDIX. 

policy."     "Save  a  portion  of  every  dollar  earned.11     "Meet 
all  engagements  at  the  minute." 

6.  First,   adaptation ;    second,    industry ;   third,    unlimited 
credit  with  very  limited  use. 

7.  Laziness,  truthlessness,  drunkenness,  dishonesty. 

H.  E.  SIMMONS,  business  manager  of  American  Tract  Society  : 

1.  In  a  small  village. 

2.  Always  at  work  for  my  parents  until  I  was  twenty-one 
years  old. 

5.  "  Whatever  is  worth  doing  at  all  is  worth  doing  well.'* 

6.  Strict  honesty,  diligent  application  to  business,  and  no 
fear  of  hard  work. 

7.  Fast  living,  mental,  spiritual,  and  bodily  ;  lack  of  atten- 
tion to  the  details  of  one's  business. 

LEW.  E.  D  ARROW,  banker,  Corning,  Iowa  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Regular  work  on  farm,  with  school  only  in  winter  »  taught 
country  school  when  seventeen. 

5.  Depend  on  self  and  not  on  others.     Take  the  Holy  Spirit 
for  a  Guide  and  Helper.     I  will  do  my  utmost  each  day. 

6.  A  fixed  determination  to  do  all  he  can,  every  day  ;  a  firm 
reliance  upon  God,  and  a  fixed  purpose  to  serve  Him. 

7.  Lack  of  energy,  failure  to  improve  every  moment,  lack  of 
strict  integrity. 

MILTON  BRADLEY,  publisher,  Springfield,  Mass.  : 

1.  Country  village  till  ten  ;  city  later. 

2.  To  a  considerable  extent  evenings  and  vacations. 

5.  "  Trust  in  God,  and  keep  your  powder  dry." 

6.  Good  moral  and  religious  character  ;  gumption,  GUMPTION, 
GU  MPTION  ;  a  practical  and  industrial  education. 

V.  Want  of  backbone,  rum,  lack  of  adaptability  and  proper 
training,  anticipating  prospective  income,  and  living  beyond 
one's  means. 


APPENDIX. 


COLONEL  WESTON  FLINT,  U.  S.  Patent  Office  : 

1.  In  the  country  on  a  farm. 

2.  Steady  work  always  for  iny  parents  ;  educated  myself, 
and  paid  my  way  through  college. 

5.  "  Honesty  is  the  best  policy."     "Never  be  idle."     A. 
great,  longing  desire  for  an  education,  I  think,  had  much  to 
do  with  my  success,  and  this  I  owe  to  my  dear  mother. 

6.  First,  honesty  ;  second,  industry  ;  third,  patience,  simple 
habits,  having  definite  objects  in  life  —  not  drifting. 

J.  H.  VINCENT,  D.D.,  author,  editor,  lecturer  : 

5.  "  Live  near  to  God  "  —  a  counsel  given  me  by  my  mother 
when  I  left  home  at  sixteen.     It  was  illustrated  by  my  mother's 
daily  life,   and  has  kept  me  from  much  evil,  and  has  had  a 
measure  of  influence  in  holding  me  to  general  faith  in  Provi- 
dence and  grace. 

6.  An   entire   surrender  of  impulse  and   inclination  to  the 
demands  of  duty,  as  expressed  and  made  possible  in  the  life  of 
Christ. 

7.  Living  the  life  of  the  flesh,  whether  in  low,  sensual,  or 
refined,  esthetic,  and  merely  selfish  gratification. 

HON.  A.  W.  TENNEY,  U.  S.  District  Attorney  for  Brooklyn  : 

1.  In  the  country,  on  a  farm. 

2.  Yes,  for  my  parents,  until  twenty-two  years  of  age,  con- 
stantly ;  after  that,  until  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  part  of  the 
time.  . 

5.  None. 

6.  Integrity,  truthfulness,    promptness,   sobriety,    patience, 
and  hard  work. 

7.  Outside  of  intemperance,  failure  to  grasp  and  hold,  scat- 
tering too  much,  want  of  integrity  and  promptness,  unwilling 
to  achieve  success  by  earning  it  in  the  old-fashioned  way. 

E.  P.  ROE,  author  : 
1.   Country. 


24:2  APPENDIX. 

2.   My  father  kept  me  busy  in  a  large  garden  and  on  a  small 
farm  (see  my  book,  "  Play  and  Profit  in  my  Garden"). 

5.  When  a  schoolboy  I  pasted  the  following  in  my  books  : 
" Perseverando  vincam." 

6.  First,   ability  to  write  correctly,  and  clearly,  acquired  by 
patient,  well-directed  training  ;  secotid,  ability  to  write  inter- 
estingly and  freshly  ;  third,  sympathy  with  the  subject  we  are 
writing  about  ;  fourth,  careful  study  of  real  men  and  women  ; 
fifth,  have  some  worthy  purpose. 

7.  First,  little  inaccuracies  ;  second,  obscurity  ;  third,  dul- 
ness  ;  fourth,  lack  of  sympathy  with  one's  themes  ;  fifth,  self- 
conceit    and    self-satisfaction  ;    sixth,    imitation    of    others  ; 
seventh,  a  proud  or  selfish  aim. 

J.  R.  NICHOLS,  LL.  D. ,  editor  of  Journal  of  Chemistry : 

1.  In  the  country. 

2.  Always  at  work  between  school  hours  on  a  farm  ;  school 
term,  ten  weeks  in  winter.     All  the  school  I  attended. 

5.  Constant  industry,  dependence  on  my  own  unaided  self, 
never  to  be  discouraged,  strict  integrity,  keeping  promises,  and 
saving  earnings  ;  constant  reading. 

6.  Brains,  industry,  study,  honesty,  total  abstinence,  deter- 
mination. 

7.  First,  want  of  natural  capacity  (education  alone  does  not 
fit  a  man  for  success)  ;  second,  indolence  and  credulity  ;  third, 
lack  of  moral  strength. 

DANIEL  GOODRICH,  manufacturer,  Haverhill,  Mass.  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Regular  work  out  of  school  from  very  early  boyhood. 

5.  Stick  resolutely  to  one  pursuit,  and  put  heart  into  every- 
thing you  do. 

6.  A  practical  knowledge  of  its  details,  and  a  strict  oversight 
of  the  minutiaB  of  business,  not  leaving  it  to  disinterested  parties. 

7.  First,  engaging  in  speculations  outside  of  one's  legitimate 
business  ;  second,  indulging  in  immoral  and  vicious  habits. 


APPENDIX.  243 

"  Our  greatest  glory  is  not  in  never  falling,  but  in  rising 
every  time  we  fall." 

HENRY  MARTYN  DEXTER,  D.D.,  editor  of  the  Congrega- 
tionalist  : 

1.  In  a  country  town. 

2.  To  some  extent. 

5.  I  think,  as  to  good  books,   uNocturna    versale,   versate 
diurna  ;"  and  as  to  work,  "Nulla  dies  sine  linea." 

6.  These  three  :  First,  piety  to  get  all  and  keep  all  in  posi- 
tion ;  second,   patience  to  master  all  details  ;  third,   persever- 
ance to  carry  all  through. 

7.  These  three  :  First,  want  of  thoroughness  of  preparation  ; 
second,  want  of  fixedness  of  purpose  ;  third,  want  of  faith  in 
the  inevitable  triumph  of  right  and  truth. 

W.  C.  GRAY,  D.D.,  editor  of  the  Interior  : 

1.  In  the  country  on  a  farm. 

2.  Always  hard  at  work  when  out  of  school,  mostly  on  the 
farm. 

5.  My  father    impressed  upon  me  the  idea  that  industry, 
perseverance,  and  integrity  would  certainly  give  me  success. 

6.  Fair  talents,  a  thorough  understanding  of  the  business, 
and  devotion  to  it. 

1.  Aside  from  vices — which  are  always  ruinous — the  cause 
of  nearly  all  the  failures  in  legitimate  business  is  the  failure  to 
serve  an  apprenticeship  to  it.  A  man  is  sure  to"  fail  in  a  busi- 
ness which  he  does  not  understand — divinity,  law,  medicine,  or 
anything  else. 

LYMAN  ABBOTT,  D.D.,  editor  of  Christian  Union: 

1.  Village  and  boarding-school. 

2.  No  ;  my  time  was  spent  in  study. 

5.  "  Whatsoever  thy    hand    finds  to   do,   do  it   with  thy 
might." 

6.  Study  how  to  do  the  most  good,  and  let  the  pay  take  care 
of  itself. 


244  APPENDIX. 

7.  The  combined  spirit  of  laziness  and  self-conceit  that 
makes  a  man  unwilling  to  do  anything  unless  he  can  choose  just 
what  he  will  do. 

ROBERT  WEST,  D.D. ,  publisher  and  editor  of  the  Advance : 

1.  In  the  country. 

2.  I  worked  on  a  farm — fourteen  hours  a  day   in   summer 
and  twelve  in  winter. 

6.  Early  to  bed,  early  to  rise  ;  plain  food,  good  conscience, 
good  humor,  honest  work  at  anything  one  has  to  do,  self-help, 
and  prayer. 

7.  Idleness,  carelessness,  waiting  for  opportunities,  expect- 
ing some  one  to  help  them  to  a  place,  and  lack  of  faithfulness 
in  humble  places. 

WILLIAM  HAYES  WARD,  D.D.,  editor  of  the  Independent : 

1.  Village. 

2.  Worked  in   garden,  etc.,   but  most  of  time  studying  at 
home. 

5.  None  in  particular  ;  as  much  as  any,  the  phrases,  "  Don't 
be  afraid  of  work  or  suffering,"  "  Endure  hardness  as  a  good 
soldier." 

6.  Miscellaneous  and  accurate  knowledge  ;  well-founded  opin- 
ions on  as  many   subjects  as   possible,  and  absolute   candor  ; 
poverty. 

7.  Intemperance,  self-gratification  in  pleasure,  unwillingness 
to  work  persistently  and  "  endure  hardness." 

JOHN  M.  FERRIS,  D.D.,  editor  of  the  Intelligencer  : 

1.  Cities. 

2.  My  father  brought  my  brother  and  myself  up  to  work  at 
whatever  was  to  be  done  about  the  house. 

5.  Do  with  your  might  what  God  gives  you  to  do, 

6.  A  godly   character  above  everything  ;    to   do   his  work 
thoroughly,  intelligently  ;  a  high  and  constant  regard  for  the 
interests  of  others. 


APPENDIX.  245 

7.  A  want  of  high  moral  and  religious  character,  a  lack  of 
hard  work,  wasting  effort  on  illegitimate  pursuits. 

EBEN   TOURJEE,    Mus.D.,    New    England   Conservatory    of 
Music,  Boston  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Began  work  at  eight  years  ;  not  one  third  of  the  time 
in  school  ;  went  to  a  "  trade"  at  fourteen. 

4.  Once  ;  that  was  enough  for  all  time  ! 

5.  To  honor  God  was  the  first,  and  has  been  the  supreme  law 
of  my  life  from  my  earliest  years. 

6.  Consecration  to  God,  consecration  to  work,  consecration 
to  study. 

7.  Absence  of  principle,  leading  to  dishonesty  and  dissipa- 
tion. 

HON.  FRANCIS  HENDRICK,  ex-Mayor  of  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  : 

1 .  Country. 

2.  Farm  work. 

6.  Character,  industry  ;  to  be  born  right. 

7.  A  desire  to  get  rich  fast,  speculation,  and  overreaching. 
Half  fail  on  account  of  vices. 

E.  B.  JUDSON,  President  of  First  National  Bank  of  Syracuse, 
N.  Y.  : 

1.  Village. 

2.  At  twelve  years  began  self-support. 

6.  Prudent  and  saving,  industrious,  honest. 

7.  Living  beyond  income,  speculation,  vices. 

R.  M.  BINGHAM,  Rome,  N.  Y,,  carriage  manufacturer  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Yes,  at  farm  work. 

3.  Sixteen. 

5.  Aim  to  excel. 

6.  Thorough  knowledge  of  business,  attention  to  detail, 
severance,  and  economy, 


246  APPENDIX. 

7.  Bad  habits  ;  disposition  to  float  down  stream  being  easier 
than  to  row  up  ;  lack  of  appreciation  of  the  opportunities  of 
life  ;  courage  and  effort  are  required  to  go  to  the  front,  while 
the  cowardly  and  self-indulgent  easily  fall  to  the  rear,  and  then 
have  a  harder  time  than  would  be  necessary  to  maintain  the 
front.  The  "  rear,"  easiest  to  get,  is  the  most  uncomfortable 
and  the  MOST  CROWDED. 

ELLIS  H.  ROBERTS,  editor  of  Utica  Herald  : 

1.  In  Utica. 

2.  From  nine  years  old  until  eighteen,  at  least  twelve  hours 
a  day. 

3.  Nine  years. 

0.  Excelsior. 

6.  Integrity,  diligence,  courtesy. 

7.  Drink,  extravagance,  shiftlessness. 

DR.  EDMUND  ANDREWS,  Chicago  : 

1.  I  was  bred  in  the  country. 

2.  Worked  every  summer  on  a  farm. 

3.  Came  to  self-support  gradually. 

5.  I  used  maxims  somewhat  to  vent  niy  ideas  (to  myself) 
in  a  condensed  form,  but  attribute  much  more  effect  to  the 
ideas  themselves  than  to  the  expression  in  maxim  form. 

6.  Righteousness,    sound  judgment,    industry.     (However, 
these  three  things  are  reciprocally  parts  of  each  other.     To 
speak  of  them  as  separate  things  would  be  erroneous.) 

HON.  W.  C.  DE  PAUW,  New  Albany,  Ind.  : 

1.  Village, 

2.  From  my  earliest  recollection,  I  was  taught  and  required 
to  labor. 

6.  Golden  Rule  ;  touch  not,  taste  not,>  handle  not  whis- 
key or  tobacco  ;  promptness,  with  intelligent,  regular  applica- 
tion. 


APPENDIX.  247 

7.   Whiskey  and  licentiousness,  gaming  and  idleness,  want 
of  truthfulness  in  business,  especially  in  buying  and  selling. 

DR.  N.  S.  DAVIS,  Chicago  : 

1 .  On  a  farm. 

2.  Always  employed  in  doing  work  on  the  farm  when  not  in 
school. 

5.  "It  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to  receive.''     "  What- 
soever thy  hand  findethto  do,  do  it  with  thy  might."    "Perse- 
verantia  omnia  vincit." 

6.  A  thorough  knowledge  of  the  profession  itself  ;  a  strong 
and  honest  desire  to  do  good  to  others  ;  steadiness  of  purpose, 
with  promptness  and  fidelity  in  all  work. 

7.  Narrow  selfishness  and  haste  to  be  rich  ;  unsteadiness  of 
purpose  and  lack  of  knowledge  ;  deficient  in  both  moral  integ- 
rity and  industry. 

GEORGE   H.    CORLISS,  inventor   of    Corliss   Engine,  Provi- 
dence, R.  I.  : 

1.  In  a  village. 

2.  Was  accustomed  to  helping  ray  parents  from  very  early 
life,  and  taking  upon  myself  some  small  cares  and  responsibili- 
ties, which  occupied  me  more  or  less  out  of  school  hours. 

3.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  years. 

6.  Brains,  habitual  and  persistent  industry,  self-reliance. 

7.  Self-indulgence,   want  of  a  steady  and  definite  purpose, 
lack  of  brains. 

G.  W.  PACH,  photographer,  New  York.  : 

1.  For  the  most  part  in  a  city. 

2.  Worked  out  of  school  hours. 

3.  Fifteen  years. 

5.  "Be  sure  you're  right,  then  go  ahead." 

6.  Thorough  study,  close  observation,  and  doing  work  on  a 
cash  basis. 

7.  Inattention    to    business,    giving    credit,    indorsing   for 
"  friends,"  negligence  of  business, 


248  APPENDIX. 

CLEMENT  STUDEBAKER,    wagon    manufacturer,    South   Bend, 
Ind.  : 

1.  In  the  country. 

2.  When  out  of  school  I  was  always  at  work,  to  provide  for 
myself  and  aid  in  the  support  of  the  family  ;  when  in  school, 
which  I  could  only  attend  during  the  winter  season,  I  worked 
for  some  farmer  mornings  and  evenings  to  pay  for  my  board. 

5.  I  was  early  familiar  with  the  leading  maxims  of  the  day, 
and  always  felt  inspired  by  them,  but  kept  no  particular  one 
especially  in  view.     It  was  my  ambition  to  succeed,  and  the 
essentials  to  which  I  particularly  pinned  my  faith  in  striving  to 
this  end  were,  entire  abstinence  from  the  use  of  either  tobacco 
or  liquor,  industry,  persistence  of  effort,  patience,  and  economy 
of  time  and  money. 

6.  First,  let  him  thoroughly  acquaint  himself  with  the  busi- 
ness engaged  in,  not  merely  in  its  general  outlines,  but  in  its 
details  ;    second,  let  him  determine  to  make  good  goods,   the 
reputation   of   which   will  be  cumulative   as  the  years  go  by  ; 
third,  let  him  give  his  affairs  his  undivided  personal  attention  ; 
fourth,  let  him,  while  at  all  times  exercising  reasonable  conser- 
vatism, be  on  the  alert  to  take  advantage  of  opportunities  for 
increasing  and  enlarging  his  business  ;'  fifth,  let  him  look  well 
to  the  character  of  the  assistants  with  which  he  surrounds  him- 
self ;  sixth,  let  him  guard  well  against  wastefulness  ;  seventh, 
let  him  live  well  within  his  income. 

7.  Inattention  to  business  ;  extravagance  in  living,  especially 
dissipation  in  the  matter  of  strong  drink,  which  depletes  the 
pocket  and  ruins  the  brain  ;  and  anxiety  to  get  rich  too  fast, 
which  finds  outgrowth  in  wild  and  illegitimate  speculation. 

PROFESSOR  HOMER  B.  SPRAGUE,  of  Boston  : 

1.  Country. 

2.  Yes. 

5.   "  Wisdom  is  the  principal  thing." 

"  They  are  slaves  who  dare  not  be 
In  the  right  with  two  or  three." 


APPENDIX.  249 

11  I  will  lay  down  my  life  to  serve  my  country  :  I  will  not  do  a 
base  thing  to  save  it." 

6.  For  true  success  in  teaching,  there  is  need  of — first,  a  love 
of  knowledge  ;    second,  a  love  of  mankind  ;    third,  a  spirit  of 
consecration  and  self-sacrifice. 

7.  Ill-health  ;  mistake  in  the  choice  of  employment ;  lack  of 
persistent  and  protracted  effort ;  a  low  ideal,  making  success  to 
consist  in  personal  aggrandizement  rather  than  in  the  training 
and  development  of  a  pure  and  noble  character. 

0.  G.  PETERS,  of  Columbus  Buggy  Company,  Columbus,  0. : 

1.  City.     2.  Accustomed  to  sawing  wood,  carrying  coal,  and 
doing  chores  about  half  the  time  ;  balance  of  the  time  could 
play  around  home. 

3.  Began  business  about  sixteen  years  of  age,  but  was  eigh- 
teen before  I  was  able  to  support  myself. 

6.  The  birth-given  qualities,    such  as  ambition,   prudence, 
caution,  fear  of  bad  results  ;  also  thoroughness.     Most  impor- 
tant of  all,  conversion  at  the  early  age  of  seventeen.     About 
this  period  lies  the  turning  point  for  better  or  worse  in  a  young 
man's  life. 

7.  Lack  of  birth-given  qualities,  or  lack  of  training  ;    not 
being   well    balanced  ;    lack   of    thoroughness   and    depth   of 
thought ;  neglect  of  Christian  influence,  which  results  in  bad 
associations  and  prevents  the  development  of  the  religious  and 
thereby  the  manly  character. 

HON.  GEORGE  F.  EDMUNDS,  Acting  Vice-President  : 

My  boyhood  was  spent  in  the  country,  and  I  was  engaged  in 

work  on  my  father's  farm,  when  I  was  not  fishing  or  hunting, 

during  intervals  between  schools. 

,  Ex-Vice-President  : 

1.   City.     2.  Yes. 

5.  My  favorite  mottoes,  oft-repeated  to  others  : 


250  APPENDIX. 

"  Count  that  day  lost  whose  low-descending  sun 
Views  from  thy  hand  no  worthy  action  done." 

Also  :  "  Spare  moments  the  gold-dust  of  time." 

6.  Principle.     Energy,  in  which  I  include  persistent  applica- 
tion.     Total  abstinence,  both  from  intoxicants  and  from  gam- 
bling.    Economy,   including  avoidance  of  debt.      Study,    till 
every  detail  is  mastered. 

7.  Extravagance,  including  buying  on  expectations  what  can- 
not be  paid  for  promptly.      Pride  and  desire  for  show  beyond 
one's  means  or  sphere.      Instability,  and  lack  of  persistent  ap- 
plication and  industry.     Lack  of  appreciation  of  the  value  of 
time.     Too  many  irons  in  the  fire  equally  injudicious.     Tip- 
pling and  gambling  and  the  evils  born  of  them — profanity,  Sab- 
bath-breaking, etc.     Cynicism,  backbiting,  and  lack  of  suaviter 
in  modo. 

HON.  JOHN  D.  LONG,  ex-Governor  of  Massachusetts  : 

1.   Village.      2.   Some. 

3.   At  graduation,  eighteen  years  of  age. 

HON.  HENRY  B.  PIERCE,  Secretary  of  State  of  Massachu- 
setts : 

1.  Village.  2.  Parents  being  poor,  worked  in  shop  sum- 
mers from  twelve  years  of  age,  and  went  to  school  winters.  . 

5.  Political  affairs  should  be  conducted  on  business  prin- 
ciples. 

% 

HON.  DAVID  A.  GLEASON,  Massachusetts  State  Treasurer  : 
1.   City.     2.   Parents  being  well  to  do,  time  was  devoted  to 
education  until  graduation  from  college. 

HON.  W.  F.  SPAULDING,  Prison  Commissioner  of  Massa- 
chusetts : 

1.  City.  3.  Had  my  time  for  study  until  sixteen,  when  I 
went  into  a  store  as  a  clerk. 


APPENDIX.  251 

DR.  WOLCOTT,  of  Massachusetts  State  Board  of  Health  : 
1.  Country.     2.  Parents  being  wealthy,  spent  time  in  study 
and  recreation  until  graduation  from  college. 

HON.  C.  CURRY,  Bank  Commissioner  of  Massachusetts  : 

1.  Country.  2.  Parents  being  in  comfortable  circumstances, 
did  no  work  except  a  little  gardening  and  chores. 

3.  Entered  business  at  fifteen,  beginning  at  the  bottom  and 
working  up. 

6.   Integrity,  promptness,  and  attention  to  business. 

HON.  CHARLES  E.  RUSSELL,  Secretary  of  Massachusetts  State 
Board  of  Agriculture  : 

1.  Village.  2.  No.  Parents  being  wealthy,  had  time  for 
study  and  recreation. 

HON.  ROBERT  R.  BISHOP,  President  of  Massachusetts  State 
Senate  : 

].  Country.     2.   Yes,  always.     3.   At  twenty -one. 

HON.  GEORGE  A.  MARDEN,  Speaker  of  Massachusetts  House 
of  Representatives  : 

1.  Village.  2.  Yes;  shoemaking  about  all  the  extra  time 
there  was. 

3.   Went  to  Dartmouth  College  at  sixteen,  and  paid  my  way. 

6.  Industry,  honesty,  persistence,  and  courage. 

7.  Intemperance,  want  of  application,  misfortunes  for  which 
men  are  not  responsible. 

HON.  JOHN  D.  PAGE,  ex-Governor  of  Vermont  : 
1.   Village.     2.   Worked  on  a  farm. 

HON.  ENOCH  L.  FANCHER,  lawyer,  New  York  : 
1.  Country.     2.   Worked  for  parents. 

W.  E.  GOULD,  banker,  Portland,  Me.  : 

1.   City.     2.  Yes,  after  thirteen  years  old.     3.   Sixteen. 


252  APPEHDIX. 

J.  B.  WEBSTER,  of  the  firm  of  R.  H.  Macy  &  Co.,  N.  Y.  : 
1.   Village.     2.  Yes.     3.   Fifteen. 

HON.  AMOS  BARSTOW,  bank  president,  Providence,  R.  I.  : 
1.   Village.     3.  Went  into  business  at  fourteen. 
5.   Get  your  rest  by  change  of  work. 

PHILO  PARSONS,  bank  president,  Detroit,  Mich.  : 
1.   Country.     2.   Worked  from  the  age  of  eight  years  most 
of  the  time. 

5.   '*  Live  generously  within  your  means." 

HON.  W.  W.  THOMAS,  bank  president  (oldest  bank  president 
in  the  State),  Portland,  Me.  : 

1.   City.     3.   Began  business  life  in  a  store  at  fourteen. 

H.  J.  LIBBY,  bank- president,  Portland,  Me.  : 

1.  Village.     2.   Yes  ;  in  a  large  garden  out  of  school  hours. 

3.  Went  into  store  at  eighteen. 

HON.  GEORGE  F.  MAGOUN,  D.D.,  President  of  Iowa  College, 
Grinnell  : 

1.   Village.      2.    Yes.      3.   Twenty-three. 

A.  L.  CHAPIN,  D.D.,  President  of  Beloit  College,  Wis.  : 
1.   City.     2.  Yes.     3.   Have  mostly  supported  myself  since 
I  entered  college  at  sixteen. 

AVILLIAM  BROOKS,  President  of  Tabor  College,  Iowa  : 

1.   Country.     2.   Worked  on  a  farm. 

5.  The  fact  that  my  parents  consecrated  me  to  God  in  in- 
fancy and  expressed  a  desire  that  I  should  get  a  liberal  educa- 
tion had  a  great  influence  upon  me. 

REV.  DR.  HILL,  Portland,  Me.,  ex-President  of  Antioch 
College  and  Harvard  University  : 


APPENDIX. 

1.  City.  2.  Being  an  orphan,  had  to  work  early  as  an  ap- 
prentice to  a  printer. 

FRANKLIN  FAIRBANKS,  manufacturer  of  standard  scales,  St. 
Johnsbury,  Vt.  : 

1.   Country.     2.   Worked  when  out  of  school,  and  vacations. 

3.  Began  business  at  seventeen,  at  the  bottom,  at  five  dollars 
per  month  and  expenses.  Learned  every  part  of  the  business 
except  blacksmithing. 

5.   Do  well  whatever  you  do. 

PHILIP  L.  MOEN,  wire  manufacturer,  Worcester,  Mass.  : 
1.   Country.     3.   Went  into  a  store  at  seventeen,  and  began 
at  the  bottom. 

J.  N.  HARRIS,  bank  president,  New  London,  Conn.  : 
1.   Country.     2.    Worked    on  a  farm.     5.   I'll  never  work 
Sunday. 

T.  W.  HARVEY,  ex-President  of  Chicago  Y.  M.  C.  A.  : 

1.   Village.     2.   Worked  from  six  years  old  until  this  day. 

3.  Eleven.  5.  Faithful  service  when  employed  ;  no  work 
too  hard  ;  no  hours  or  day  too  long  ;  no  work  too  menial,  if 
honorable  ;  live  within  income  ;  never  borrow  of  or  use  money 
of  my  employer  under  any  circumstances.  6.  Work,  love 
work,  work  systematically,  both  in  school  and  in  business. 
The  crying  demand  in  all  business  houses  is  for  men  who  will 
cheerfully  get  under  the  burdens  and  eventually  take  the  busi- 
ness. 7.  Failure  to  work  when  young  and  master  the  details 
of  business.  Little  tricks  in  trade.  Deceiving  customers  and 
friends. 

Be  so  honest  and  plucky  that  when  hard  times  come  your 
creditor  or  banker  will  not  go  back  on  you. 

PROFESSOR    (T.     BROWN    GOODE,  Smithsonian    Institution, 
Washington,  D.  C.  : 
1.  Country.     2.   No. 


254  APPENDIX. 

5.  "  Put  yourself  in  his  place."     "  Never  do  anything  too 
well."     "  Never  do  yourself  what  you  can  get  some  one  else  to 
do. "     "Be  short,  or  else  you  will  be  tiresome. "     "  There  are 
people  beyond  the  mountains. "     "  Never  start  upon  an  under- 
taking until  you  are  sure  it  is  practicable  and  ought  to  be  done, 
and  then  let  nothing  stand  in  the  way  of  completing  it. ' ' 

6.  First,  a  power  of  minute  observation  and  of  broad  gen- 
eralization from  facts  observed  ;  second,  a  strong  vitality  and 
power  of  work  coupled  with  a  natural  bent  for  science  ;  third, 
special  scientific  training. 

V.  First,  inherited  weakness  of  body  and  mind  ;  second, 
lack  of  education  (not  meaning  lack  of  schooling)  ;  third,  lack 
of  definite  purpose  and  of  power  to  direct  one's  own  energies 
or  those  of  others. 

J.  S.  SMITHSON,  Chicago,  111.  : 

1.  City.  2.  I  had  to  do  what  my  parents  ordered,  and  was 
taught  self-help.  5.  "Be  just,  and  fear  not." 

6.  Steady  application,  or,  as  your  late  President  Lincoln 
said,  "  Pegging  at  it. "  The  constant  habit  of  prayer,  seek- 
ing God's  wisdom  and  guidance,  submitting  the  smallest  trans- 
action to  God  :  for  years  I  have  always  carried  this  out,  and  let 
my  clerks  know  I  did,  asking  them  to  do  so  with  me.  I  can 
vouch  that  even  vessels  that  were  anxiously  wanted  and  were  out 
beyond  their  time  have  frequently  come  just  at  the  right  time, 
I  believe  because  God  heard  prayer.  Want  of  steady  applica- 
tion, yielding  to  the  world's  way  of  doing  business.  "  Get 
money  ;  honestly  if  you  can,  but  get  money"  is  as  complete  a 
"  will-o'-wisp"  as  the  devil  ever  invented.  The  dishonoring 
of  God's  day,  I  have  noticed,  is  visited  with  disapproval  on 
God's  part.  Drink  has  been  a  fruitful  source  of  failure.  They 
who  honor  God,  God  will  honor  them. 

JOHN  DOUGALL,  publisher  of  the  Witness,  New  York  : 

1.  In  the  country,  near  a  town  in  Scotland. 

2.  I  did  considerable  work  in  errands,  chores,  and  in  a  gar- 


APPENDIX.  255 

den,  but  most  of  the  time  out  of  school  was  spent  in  "  running 
about  the  braes"  and  reading. 

6.  A  great  taste  for  reading  books,  periodicals,  and  news- 
papers, and  a  desire  to  write  prose  and  poetry  for  them,  with 
frequent  efforts  at  authorship. 

7.  Drinking,  immorality,  extravagance,  gambling,  fickleness, 
and  unreliability.     Also  overtrading  and  lack   of  judgment  in 
giving  credit. 

J.  N.  HALLOCK,  publisher  and  editor  of  Christian  at  Work : 
1.   Country.     2.   Yes,  for  my  parents. 

5.  "Be  sure  you're  right,  then  go  ahead." 

6.  A  liberal  education,    temperance,    honesty,    promptness, 
and  careful  attention  to  business. 

HORACE  WATERS,  piano  manufacturer,  New  York  : 
1.   Country.     2.   Worked  on  the  farm.      3.   At  sixteen. 

5.  Work  and  vote  as  you  talk  and  pray. 

6.  Strict  integrity,  close  attention,  sticktoitiveness. 

7.  Drinking  and  tobacco,  lack  of  integrity. 

W.  J.  BACON,  lawyer,  Utica,  New  York  : 
1.   Village.     2.   No.     3.   At  twenty-one. 

6.  Hard  study,  discipline  in  extemporaneous  speaking,  con- 
scientious business  pursuits. 

7.  Bad  habits,  idleness  and  evil  associates,  corrupting  litera- 
ture. 

DR.  J.  RUSSELL  TABER,  Brooklyn  : 

1.   Country.     2.  Yes,  generally  eight  to  nine  hours  per  day. 

3.  I  taught  school  at  sixteen,  and  afterward  to  earn  money 
to  get  my  professional  education  ;  began  practice  at  twenty- 
two. 

5.  "  Never  say  fail." 

6.  Thorough  preparation,  tact,  perseverance,  and  economy. 

7.  Inefficiency,  immoral  habits  and  conduct,  unwise  choice 
of  business  or  profession. 


256  APPENDIX. 

EDMUND  TITUS,  Brooklyn  : 

1.  Country.     2.   Worked   regularly   on   the   farm    for   my 
father  ;  had  an  interest  and  traded  a  little  in  stock. 
3.  At  twenty-one. 

6.  Close  attention  to  business  ;  always  live  within  your  in- 
come ;  a  good  Christian  and  practical  wife. 

7.  Not  keeping  abreast  with  knowledge  and  conviction  ;  ex- 
travagance in  living,  intemperance,  and  worldly  pursuits. 

J.  M.  PHILLIPS,  of  Phillips  &  Hunt,  publishers,  New  York  : 
1.   Country.     2.   Not  regularly.     3.   At  fifteen. 

5.  None.     But  my  dead  mother's  influence  kept  me  from 
evil  places  by  the  thought  that  she  might  see  me   in   wrong- 
doing. 

6.  Common-sense,  attention  to  business. 

7.  Lack  of  patience  to  work  and  wait. 

5.  HUNT,  D.D.  (of  Phillips  &  Hunt),  New  York  : 
1.   Country.     2.   Farm  work.     3.   At  twenty-one. 

6.  Honesty,  intelligence,  piety. 

7.  Spending  more  than  one  has  to  spend. 

J.  N.  STEARNS,  Corresponding  Secretary  of  National  Tem- 
perance Society,  New  York  : 

1.  Country.  2.  On  the  farm,  from  five  in  the  morning  till 
nine  at  night — in  summer. 

5.  "  Toil  and  hope,"  in  early  life.     "  Do  all  you  can  for 
the  blessed  Redeemer"  was  my  father's  dying  message. 

6.  Courage  to  say  "  No,"  close  application,  "  sticktoitive- 
ness,"  love  for  the  work,  and  faith  in  God. 

7.  Lack    of   early    piety,    laziness,    smoking    and    drinking 
habits,  reading  story-books,  fault-finding  at  home. 

CAPTAIN  C.  C.  DUNCAN,  U.  S.  Commissioner,  Brooklyn, 
N.  Y.  : 

1.  Early  in  a  village,  later  at  sea.  2.  Had  to  work  to  sup- 
port parents,  and  didn't  go  to  school  much. 


APPENDIX.  257 

5.  To  make  myself  so  useful  that  my  employers  couldn't 
do  without  me. 

6.  Self-dependence,  living  within  the  income,  honesty,  tem- 
perance, industry,  good  companions. 

7.  Want  of  care  in  selecting  occupation,  lack  of  application, 
shirking  drudgery,  evil  companions,  extravagance,  intemper- 
ance. 

DR.  OSCAR  C.  DsWoLF,  Health  Commissioner,  Chicago  : 
1.   Country.     2.   Worked  regularly  at  farm  labor,  when  not 
at  school,  until  seventeen  years  old. 

6.  Adaptability,    culture,   industry,    good    habits.     Success 
can  never  be  of  high  order  if  either  is  wanting.      (By  "  cul- 
ture" I  mean  general  and  special  education). 

7.  Mistake  in  choosing  occupation.     All  boys — farmers  ex- 
cepted — should   learn   a   trade  and  be   capable   of   supplying 
skilled  labor  if  necessity  comes.     Such  labor  is  always  in  de- 
mand, while  a  thousand  classically  educated  men  can  be  found 
in  this  city  who  would  be  glad  to  labor  for  two  dollars  and  a 
half  per  day.     Many  of  them  are  in  real  need. 

L.  C.  TABER,  Syracuse,  N.  Y.  : 

1.  Country.     2.   Farm  work.     3.   At  nineteen. 

6.  Good  moral  habits,  honesty  ;   seek  a  business  for  which 
he  is  adapted,  and  not  change  often. 

7.  Bad  habits,  frequent  changes. 

0.  H.  SWAN,  lumber-dealer,  Chicago  : 

1.  Village.     2.  Yes. 

5.  "  Keep  every  promise.'11     "  As  you  are  at  forty  years,  so 
you  will  be  to  the  end  of  life."     "  Fear  God,  and  keep  his 
commandments. ' ' 

6.  Punctuality  and  truthfulness. 

7.  Anxiety  to  become  suddenly  rich. 

Z.  C.  KEITH,  manufacturer,  Campello,  Mass.  ; 
J,  Village.     2,   Yes,  for  my  parents, 


258  APPENDIX. 

5.  "  A  rolling  stone  gathers  no  moss,"  oft  repeated  by  my 
mother,  fixed  the  danger  of  changefulness  in  my  mind  ;  hence 
my  eighteen  years'  steady  application  without  change  of  loca- 
tion. 

6.  Square,  honest  dealing  ;   strict  attention    to  business  ;   a 
pleasant  address,  and  perseverance. 

7.  Expensive  habits,  intemperance,  and  speculation. 

ZINA  CASE,  manufacturer,  Brockton,  Mass.  : 
1.   Country  farm.     2.   Yes. 

5.  Spend  less  than  you  make. 

6.  Never  extend  your  business  beyond  your  means,  but  as 
your  means  increase  extend  your  business.     Economy  and  dili- 
gence, it  seems  to  me,  are  the  mainsprings  to  success. 

7.  When  men  begin  to  accumulate  money,  outside  specula- 
tions seem  to  offer  great  inducements  to  a  more  sudden  fortune, 
and  by  this  one  cause,  I  think,  more  men  fail  than  by   almost 
any  other. 

GORDON  BURCHARD,  Brooklyn  : 

1.   Village.      2.   Was  always  helpful  to  my  parents,  as  they 
were  of  limited  means. 

5.  A  favorite  maxim  of  my  father,  lt  Boys,  always  pay  a 
hundred  cents  on  the   dollar."     He  did  that  during  the  em- 
bargo of  1812-15.     Another  one,  "  Every  tub  must  stand  on 
its  own  bottom." 

6.  Sobriety,  industry,  fixedness — not  a  rolling  stone,  which 
gathers  no  moss  ;  determination  for  success  ;  good  company. 
Find  a  pleasant  home  and  the  society  of  modest  and  Christian 
young  women  on  coming  to  the  city. 

7.  First,  drink  ;  scores  of  young  men  in  my  employ,  besides 
a  number  of  my  business  associates,  have  gone  upon  this  rock. 
In  its  train  follow  the  theatre,  houses  of  ill-fame,  etc.,  all  con- 
nected.    I  have  been  an  eye-witness  to  this  for  over  forty  years 
of  active  business  life  in  Brooklyn  and  New  York.     I  am  now 
seventy. 


APPENDIX.  259 

JOHN  L.  WEBSTER,  lawyer,  Omaha,  Neb. : 
1.  Country.     2.   In  farm  work  for  parents. 

6.  Close  attention  to  business  and  hard  study. 

7.  Want  of    attention  to  business,   want  of  integrity,  and 
Jack  of  hard  study. 

DR.  O.  S.  WOOD,  Omaha  : 

1.  Partly  in  a  village,  and  partly  in  the  country. 

2.  I  had  to  earn  my  own  living  after  eight  and  a  half  years 
old,  and  all  the  schooling  I  got  up  to  sixteen  was  three  months 
in  Winter  in  a  country  school.     Father  died  when  I  was  eight ; 
after  that  I  made  my  own  home. 

6.  Strict  integrity  ;  to  understand  his  profession,  and  stick  to 
it. 

7.  Lack  of  stability  and  application. 

FRANK  FOXCROFT,  literary  editor  of  Boston  Journal  : 
1.   Most  of  it  in  the  city.     2.   No.     3.  Twenty-one. 

6.  Conscience,  brains,  tact. 

7.  Intemperance,  worry,  overwork,  and  hurry. 

PROFESSOR  THEODORE  F.  SEWARD,  editor  of  Tonic  Sol  Fa 
Advocate,  N.  Y.  : 

1.  Country.  2.  Worked  on  the  farm  for  my  father.  3.  At 
twenty-one. 

5.  "He  that  is  faithful  in  that  which  is  least  is  faithful  also 
in  much." 

6.  Faith  in  God,  the  strictest  honesty,  a  consideration  for 
the  feelings  and  interests  of  others. 

7.  Lack  of   faith    in   God  ;    selfishness,   which    dwarfs   the 
nature,  and  blinds  one  to  his  own  best  interests  ;  a  lack  of 
downright,  through-and- through  honesty. 

NOTE. — Answers  to  questions  4  and  8  are  mostly  omitted  for  reasons, 
and  other  answers  also  in  some  cases.  Only  a  small  pioportion  of 
the  replies  are  given. 


EXTRACTS  FROM  OTHER  REPLIES. 

GEO.  B.  LEONAED,  banker,  Syracuse  :  Starting  without  a  definite 
idea  of  what  is  to  be  done.  C.  A.  RICHABDSON,  Asst.  Ed.  of  Conyrega- 
tionalist :  5.  Honest  industry  and  hard  work  will  win.  HON.  D.  WAED 
NOKTHEUP,  ex-Probate  Judge,  Middletown,  Ct. :  6.  In  the  legal  profes- 
sion I  believe  that  patient  industry,  thorough  application  to  details, 
and  fairness  are  superior  to  brilliancy  and  sharpness.  CHAPLAIN 
C.  C.  McCABE,  Chicago  :  5.  Time  enough  to  rest  in  heaven.  HON. 
,  ex-Dist.  Attorney  :  6.  Thoroughness  in  all  prep- 
aration ;  courage  in  maintaining  and  acting  on  judgments  deliber- 
ately formed  (not  obstinacy  or  rashness).  ,  Civil 

Engineer  :  5.  Improve  upon  usual  methods.     —       ,  Lowell  : 

6.  Prayer,  pluck,  prudence.     7.  Neglect,  show,  immorality.     

,   Publisher,   Boston  :  6.  Love  for  his   business,  and   close 

attention  to  it.  7.  Laziness  and  bad  habits.  W.  H.  WHITEHEAD, 
Chicago  :  7.  Being  governed  by  impulses  instead  of  business  prin- 
ciples. HON.  -  — ,  Brooklyn  :  5.  A  devoted  mother's 
deep  interest  helped  me  in  my  boyhood  struggles  ;  also  a  good 
Sunday-school  teacher's  kindness.  7.  A  disregard  to  expenses  com- 
pared to  the  income,  which  is  often  the  fault  of  the  wife  and 
daughters  of  the  family,  who  will  have  what  they  want,  without 
regard  to  consequences.  SAMUEL  WILDE,  New  York  :  5.  "  He  that 
hasteth  to  be  rich  shall  not  be  innocent."  "  He  that  loveth  pleasure 
shall  not  be  rich."  7.  A  man,  like  a  ship  at  sea,  well  managed,  may 
be  overwhelmed  with  disaster  ;  but  leaving  out  such  cases,  my 
observation  has  been  that  ambition  to  do  too  much,  despising  the 
day  of  small  things,  has  wrecked  many.  Living  beyond  one's  means 
and  outside  speculations  have  wrecked  yet  others.  DEACON  FAENS- 

WOETH,  Boston  :  Prudence,  determination,  and  faith  in  God.     • 

,  Banker,  Chicago  :  6.  Watchful  limiting  of  indebtedness.     7. 

Negligent  bookkeeping,  drawing  too  largely  for  personal  use.  BEE- 
NAED  PETEBS,  Journalist  :  5.  Liberal,  but  cautious  ;  enterprising,  but 
careful.  THOMAS  GILL,  Manufacturer  of  Borax  Soap,  New  York  :  6. 
Keep  no  clock-watchers  as  clerks  or  workmen.  HON.  JOHN  SHEBMAN  : 
6.  Early  responsibility.  At  fifteen  years  of  age  was  put  in  charge 
of  a  job  of  railroad  engineering,  involving  $300,000-— a  developing 
responsibility.  Self-improvement  by  reading  during  leisure  hours. 
Thorough  study  of  the  subject  in  hand,  and  at  the  same  time  keep- 
ing up  with  questions  of  the  day.  HON.  WM.  E.  DODGE  :  1.  In  the 
country  until  thirteen.  2.  Then  at  work  in  the  store  of  which  I 
finally  became  proprietor.  (For  further  facts,  see  topical  index.) 

— ,  Wholesale  Merchant,  Chicago  :  6.  Self-reliance  and 
moral  responsibility  to  a  Higher  Power.  7.  Willingness  to  sacrifice 
everything  for  self.  JUDGE :  7.  Indolence,  self-con- 
ceit, extravagance,  evil  habits,  natural  lack  of  adaptation.  HON. 

,  State  Attorney-Gen.  :  6.  Upon  whatever  income,  always 

to  save  something  every  year,  and  attend  to  business  regardless  of 
amusements  or  discussions.  7.  Unwillingness  to  begin  at  the  foot 
of  the  ladder  and  work  up.  Young  men  want  to  be  masters  at  the 
start,  and  assume  to  know  before  they  have  learned. 


TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Abbott,  Lyraan,  G5,  154,  243. 

Adulterations,  197. 

Aldrich,  Nelson  W.,  25. 

Aldrich,  William,  231. 

Andrews,  Edmund,  246. 

Authors,  favorite,  of  great  men,  55. 

Autographs  of  prominent  men,  224. 

B 

Bachelors,  23,  34. 

Bacon,  W.  J.,  255. 

Bankers,  as  artists,  scientists,  etc., 

77. 

Bankruptcy,  201.     See  Failures. 
Bargains,  unfair,  120. 
Barstow,  Amos,  252. 
Bartlett,  C.  S.,  152,  227. 
Beatty,  D.  F.,  238. 
Betting,  14,  185,  187. 
Bible,  business  references  in,  112. 
Bim>;ham,  R.  M.,  245. 
Bioirraphy,  value  of,  3,  12. 
Birthplace,  influence  of,  13. 
Bishop,  R.  R.,  251. 
Board  of  trade,  97. 
Boyd,  J.  E.,235. 
Bradley,  Milton,  27,  240. 
Bi-ibery  of  commercial  buyers,  202. 
Brooks,  William,  252. 
Bross,  William,  232. 
Brown,  Senator,  36. 
Burchard,  Gordon,  258. 
Burns,  Samuel,  236. 
Burritt,  Elihu,  25. 
C 

Campbell,  Francis  Joseph,  138. 
Cars,  gospel,  83. 
Carter,  Franklin,  226. 
Case,  Zina,  258. 
Chadbourne,  P.  A.,  32. 
Changefulness,  perils  of,  155. 
Chance  as  relates  to  success,  15,  31, 

37,  48. 

Chapin,  A.  L.,  252. 
Character,  not  subject  to  environ 

rnent,  39,  50. 
Chase,  Chief  Justice,  incidents  of, 

22,  36. 
Chicago  business  men  after  great 

fire,  108. 

Choate,  Rnfus,  211. 
Christ  in  business  as  carpenter,  76. 
Cigarettes  for  boys,  17,  118. 
City,  proportion  of  successful  men 


from,  16 ;    boys  from,  v-rho  have 

succeeded,  32. 

Claflin,  H.  B.,  incident  of,  171. 
College  presidents,  pictures  of,  142; 

education  of  public  men,  34. 
Company,  bad,  168. 
Comstock,   Anthony,  40,  152,  185, 

Conscience,  stupefied,  202. 

Cook,  Joseph,  104,  227. 

Cooper,  Peter,  36,  '164. 

Corliss,  George  H.,  247. 

Country,  boyhood  in  the,  a  help  to 

success,  16. 
Courage,  44,  46. 
Crapo',  W.  W.,  36. 
Curry,  C.,  251. 

D 

Darrow,  C.  E.,  240. 
Davis,  N.  S.,  247. 
Davis,  Noah,  65,  228. 
Debt  injurious,  81,  173,  200;  some- 
times advantageous,  74. 
De  Pauw,  W.  C.,  246. 
DeWolf,  O.  C.,  257. 
Dexter,  H.  M.,  141,  243. 
Dimmock,  William,  216. 
Dingley,  Nelson,  141,  230. 
Dishonesties,  39, 173, 180.  See  Hon- 
esty. 

Doctors'  secret  of  success,  71,  145. 
Dodge,  William  E.,  44,  94,  104, 144, 

213,  260. 
Dougall,  John,  254. 

Douglass,  Benjamin,  232. 

Dow,  Neal,  71,  104,  235. 

Drew,  Daniel,  story  of,  101. 

Driggs,  Edmund,  36,  69. 

Duncan,  C.  C.,  256. 
E 

Economy,  27,  150. 

Editors'  mottoes,  71. 

Edmunds,  George  F.,  30,  249. 

Education,  lack  of,  24,  175 ;  of  our 
public  men,  34. 

Eliot,  C.  W.,  142,  226. 

Elmendorf,  F.  F.,  238. 

Engineer,  faithful  to  the  death,  232. 

Erasmus,  45. 

Estey,  Jacob,  36. 

Evolution  vs.  will,  35. 

Kxtravigance,  174. 
F 

Failures,  49,  151 ;  leading  to  good 
results,  126,  177. 


262 


TOPICAL    INDEX. 


Fairbanks,  Franklin,  213,  253. 
Fame,  unsatisfactory,  130. 
Farmers'  cases  of  conscience,  59. 
Farmers'  boys,  list  of  illustrious,  17. 
Fancher,  Enoch  L.,  251. 
Farnsworth,  Deacon,  260. 
Farragut,  stories  of,  19,  170. 
Farwell,  C.  B.,  230. 
Ferris,  J.  M.,  244. 
Finney,  story  of,  81. 
Flint,  Weston,  241. 
Franklin's  maxims,  54. 
Foxcroft,  Frank,  259. 

G 

Gambling,  169. 
Garn'eld,  incident  of,  92. 
Gill,  Thomas,  260. 
Girls  trained  to  work,  27. 
Giving,  138,  164, 165. 
Gleason,  D.  A.,  250. 
Goode,  G  B.,  253. 
Goodrich,  Daniel,  242. 
Gould,  W.  E.,  251. 
Gray,  W.  C.,  243. 
Green,  of  Savannah,  105. 
Grocers'  adulterations,  44. 

H 

Hallock,  J.  N.,  255. 
Harris,  J.  N.,  253. 
Harvey,  T.  W.,  253. 
Hendrick,  Francis,  245. 
Henrv,  Patrick,  22,  32. 
'Heredity,  22,  32. 
Hill,  Rev.  Dr.,  252. 
Hill,  T.  J.,  237. 
Holden,  S.  E.,  237. 
Honesty, 46,  62,  96, 108, 116, 121, 173, 

180,  207. 

Hopkins,  Mark,  142,  225. 
Howard,  O.  O.,  234. 
Hunt,  S.,  256. 
Hypocrisy,  88. 

Idleness,  210,  230. 
Infidels,  131. 
Intemperance,  60,  107, 146. 

J 

James,  Darwin  R.,  152,  229. 
Judd,  Orange,  2,  36,  213. 
Judson,  E.  B.,  245. 

K 

Keith,  Z.  C.,  257. 
Kent,  Judge,  story  of,  43. 

L 

Labor  and  luck,  209,  211. 
Laborers,  Ruskin's  mottoes  for,  54  ; 
lack  of  thrift  of,  150 ;  wronged, 
165 ;  monopolies  by,  194. 
Lane,  A.  G.,  234. 


Lawrence,  Amos,  94,  168. 

Lawyers,  43,  65. 

Laziness,  210. 

Leonard,  G.  B.,  260. 

Libby,  II.  J.,  252. 

Literature,  men  of,  pictured,  05. 

Logan,  John  A.,  234. 

Long,  J.  D.,  250. 

Lotteries,  1 85. 

Luck  and  chance  as  related  to  suc- 
cess, 15,  31,  37,  48,  209,  211. 
M 

Magoun,  George  F.,  252. 

Harden,  George  R.,  251. 

Marriage  as  related  to  success,  23 
24. 

Martyrs  to  honesty,  48,  58. 

Maxims,  54. 

McCabe,  C.  C.,  motto  of,  260. 

McClurg,  A.  C.,  236. 

Medill,  Joseph,  231. 

Merchants  and  manufacturers,  pict- 
ures of,  2. 

Milk,  adulterated,  42. 

Miller,  Lewis,  2,  238. 

Millionaires,  99,  127,  129,  101. 

Moen,  of  Worcester,  213,  253. 

Money,  love  of,  root  of  evils,  161. 

Monopolies,  191. 

Moore,  Joseph,  227. 

Moral  and  physical  as  well  as  intel- 
lectual education  needed,  ?;?0,  107. 

Mottoes,  66. 

Mothers  as  helpers  to  success,  23. 
N 

Nelson,  incident  of,  149. 

Newsboys,  27. 

Newspaper  writers,  42. 

New  York,  successful  men  of,  16. 

Nichols,  J.  R.,  242. 

Northru p,  D.  W.,  260. 

Novels,  Frenchy,  42. 

O 

Opportunities,  seizing,  146. 
Options,  dealing  in,  14. 
Overwork,  210. 

P 

Pach,  G.  W.,  247. 
Page,  J.  D.,251. 

Papers,  corrupting,  15,  40,  56,  118. 
Parental  influence,  22,  32. 
Parsons,  Philo,  252. 
Partners,  selecting  right,  168. 
Peters,  B.,  260. 
Peters,  O,  G.,  249. 
Philanthropists,  99,  164. 
Phillips,  J.  M.,  256. 
Physical  training,  34. 
Pierce,  H.  B.,  250. 
Pluck,  27,  32,  37. 


TOPICAL  INDEX. 


Pocket  money  for  boys,  dangerous, 

26. 

Politicians,  statistics  of  the  educa- 
tion and  professions  of,  34. 
Poverty,  22,  24,  111. 
Prices,  false,  40,  41. 
Prison,  statistics,  etc.,  20,  34,  107, 

111,  172,  184,  189. 
Promptness,  146,  173. 
Prosperity,  perils  of,  114,  150,  166. 
Proverbs,  false  and  true,  56 ;    book 

of,  55, 113. 

R 

Reading  rapidly,  71,  72. 
Reformers,  pictures  of,  104. 
Rehypothecating,  188. 
Religion,  in  business,  76, 100 ;  to  be 

business-like,  76. 
Restitution,  122,  196. 
Reynolds,  Geo.  G.,  65,  228. 
Richardson,  C.  A.,  260. 
Riches,  a  disadvantage  in  boyhood, 

33  ;   uses  and  abuses  of,  127,  136, 

159;  "take  wings,"  223. 
Robbery,  in  various  forms,  14,  181. 
Roberts,  E.  H.,  246. 
Roe,  E.  P.,  65,  241. 
Ropes,  Ripley,  231. 
Rothschild,  71. 

Rumsellers,  15,  98,  118,  146,  197. 
Runners,  43. 
Ruskin's  mottoes  for  laborers,  54 ; 

for  himself,  145. 
Russell,  C.  E.,  251. 

S 

Sabbath  observance,  39,  41,  89,  119. 
Saloons,  see  Rumsellers. 
Salt,  Titus,  214. 
Scott,  Charles,  239. 
Seelye,  J.  H.,  142,  226. 
Self-denial,  146. 
Self-made  men,  38. 
Seward,  T.  F.,  259. 
Sherman,  John,  30,  260. 
Simmons,  H.  E.,  153,  240. 
Smartness,  perils  of,  32, 130, 180, 192. 
Smithson,  J.  S.,  254. 
Spaulding,  W.  F.,  250. 
Speculation,  14,  169,  186. 
Sprague,  Homer  B.,  248. 
Springfield,  statistics  of,  16,  209. 
Statesmen,  pictures  of,  30. 
Stealing  in  many  forms,  181 ;  harder 

than  honest  work,  209. 
Steams,  J.  H.,  256* 
Stephens,  Alexander  H.,  17,  30,  34, 

35,  152,  229. 

St.  John,  J.  P.,  104, 152,  229. 
Stone,  David  M.,  233. 
Studebaker,  Clem. 
Sullivan,  W. 


Sunday,  39,  41,  89,  119,  181,  193. 

Success,  causes  of,  as  given  by  suc- 
cessful men,  105,  141,  212;  false 
ideas  of,  126 ;  denned,  137. 

Swan,  O.  H.,257. 

Swindles,  188. 

T 

Taber,  J.  R.,  255. 

Taber,  L.  C.,257. 

Taylor,  Levi,  235. 

Temperance.  See  Intemperance,  and 
Rumsellers. 

Tenney,  A.  W.,  241. 

Tent,  gospel,  83. 

Thiers,  212. 

Thomas,  W.  W.,  252. 

Titus,  Edmund,  256. 

Tobacco,  17, 106, 118, 172;  what  great 
men  say  of,  18. 

Tourje'e,  Eben.  245. 

Tourgee,  A.  W.,  letter  of,  147. 

Townsend,  L.  T.,  36. 

Trades  for  boys,  33,  34,  157,  215. 

Vanderbilt,  Wm.  H.,  quoted,  187. 

Villages,  proportion  of  successful 
men  from,  32. 

Vincent,  J.  H.,  144,  241. 
W 

Wanamaker,  John,  2, 144,  237. 

Ward,  Wm.  Hayes,  244. 

Wardsworth  mottoes,  74. 

Watchwords,  66. 

Waters,  Horace,  255. 

Wealth,  see  Riches. 

Webb,  William  H.,  213. 

Webster,  J.  B.,  252. 

Webster,  J.  €.,  259. 

Weed,  Thurlow,  24. 

Weights  and  measures,  false,  195. 

Wendling,  G.  R.,  236. 

West,  Robert,  244. 

Whaler,  story  of  a,  80. 

White,  Andrew  D.,  142,  144,  226. 

Whitehead,  W.  H.,  260. 

Wilde,  Samuel,  260. 

Will  and  work,  31,  35,  37. 

Wilson,  J.  E.,  239. 

Windom,  Wm.,  30,  228. 

Wives,  wise  and  otherwise,  23,  24,  34. 

Wolcott,  Dr.,  251. 

Woman's  work,  27,  219,  224. 

Wood,O.  S.,259. 

Work,  manual,  disliked,  156;  ad- 
vantages of  regular,  in  boyhood, 
26,  27;  for  girls,  27,  219;  and  will, 
as  secrets  of  success,  31,  208 ;  and 
worship,  123  ;  bad,  dishonest,  205 ; 
relation  of,  to  rank,  218. 

Young  men,  14,  21. 


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Read  and  ponder  the  suggestive  words  on  the  next 
several  pages. 


266 


Tjje  "dheap  (Jood  Boo\"  problem, 

THIS  PROBLEM   MUST  BE  SOLVED    IF  THE  MASSES   IN 

AMERICA   ARE    TO    BE    HELD  TO  VIRTUE  AND 

TRUE    MANLINESS, 


The  Demoralizing  Effects  of  Bad  Books. 


A  man's  associates  determine  his 
character.  Our  most  intimate  compan- 
ions are  the  authors  of  the  books  we 
read ;  they  are  with  us  when  others  are 
denied  our  presence;  they  enter  our 
homes,  and,  unquestioned,  cross  the 
threshold  of  our  most  private  cham- 
bers. The  parent  can  guard  his  daugh- 
ter against  the  wrong  comrade,  but 
how  watch  the  author  with  whom  she 
communes  ?  The  comrade  can  be  seen : 
the  author  in  his  book  is  easily  con- 
cealed and  communed  with,  in  her 
chamber,  when  she  is  thought  to  be 
alone.  What  suggestive  words,  what 
descriptions  of  deception,  of  betrayal, 
of  plots  and  counterplots,  what  hot 
words  of  passion  she  reads  without  a 
thought  of  wrong  which,  if  she  heard 
spoken,  would  crimson  her  face  with 
blushes ! 

This  is  true,  not  of  those  books  only 
that  have  a  bad  reputation,  but  of 
hundreds  of  books  that  pass  as  respect- 
able. Boys  and  girls,  men  and  women, 
of  the  better  families,  all  over  the 
country,  are  reading  daily  descriptions 
that  would  not  dare  be  uttered  aloud  in 
their  presence  :  not  now,  but  by  and  by, 
when  the  evil  communication  has 
wrought  its  perfect  work  in  the  cor- 
ruption of  manners,  they  will  be  heard 
and  repeated  without  a  blush. 

There  are  fathers— men  of  the  world, 
who  would  shoot  dead  the  villain  who 
dared  speak  in  the  presence  of  their 
daughters  words  one-tenth  as  black  as 
these  same  daughters  often  read.  Tot 
a  thought  read  is  a  thought  thought 
and  as  a  man  tbinketh  so  he  is. 

O  foolish  parents  and  educators  1  why 


are  ye  so  careful  of  what  enters  tho 
ear  and  so  heedless  of  what  enters  tho 
eye  ? 

The  secret  of  the  failure  of  many  a 
faithful  ministry,  of  the  waywardness 
and  final  destruction  of  thousands  of 
the  most  promising  of  boys  and  girls— 
the  mentally  active— is  concealed  be- 
tween the  covers  of  the  books  they 
read. 

See  to  what  monstrous  proportions 
this  evil  has  grown  1 

la  New  York  City  alone  over  200,000 
books  of  fiction,  mostly  trashy  and 
hurtful,  are  printed  every  week.  These 
books,  by  circulating  libraries  or  pri- 
vate lending,  pass  from  family  to  fami- 
ly,  so  that  many  read  the  same  book. 
Besides  over  a  million  copies  of  the 
sensational  story  papers  are  issued  from 
the  New  York  presses  each  week— that 
is,  about  one  such  paper  to  every  ten 
families  I  Then,  what  vast  quantities 
are  supplied  by  other  cities  ! 

Now,  think  of  the  class  of  men  and 
women  who  are,  usually,  the  authors 
of  these  flashy  stories,  and  who  are 
securing  actually  a  more  universal  and 
a  closer  hearing  than  our  preachers  of 
all  denominations.  Representatives  of 
this  class  can  often  be  seen  on  the 
streets  of  New  York  with  blear  eyes 
and  tangled  hair  and  lecherous  looks- 
beings  from  whom  you  instinctively 
recoil.  You  had  rather  see  a  daughter 
of  yours,  just  budding  into  woman- 
hood, clasp  the  hand  of  a  smallpox 
patient,  than,  in  social  equality,  the 
hand  of  such  an  one.  Yet,  believe  it. 
70  doting  fathers,  ye  thoughtless,  coo* 
fiding  clergyman,  ye  educators,  pliilan-- 


267 


thropists,  these  beings  from  whom  you 
so  recoil  are  boon  companions  of  four- 
fifths  of  the  mentally  awakened  boys 
and  girls  of  America. 

Is  this  an  exaggeration  ?  Look  at  a 
single  fact.  A  publisher  of  populir 
books  in  New  York  recently  said : 

"  Some  time  since  I  inserted  in 

[a  popular  religious  New  York  journal] 
at  a  cost  of  $60.00,  a  large  display  adver- 
tisement of  good  standard  books.  In 
the  same  issue  cf  this  p;per  I  inserted 
at  a  cost  of  $1.25  a  small  advertisement 
of  a  flash  sensational  boo;c.  What  do 
you  think  was  the  result  ?  Well,  my 
$60.00  advertisement  brought  me  six 
orders  for  my  good  books,  while  my 
$1.25  advertisement  brought  me  one 
hund  ed  and  ihirty  orders  for  my  bad 
book.  Yet  this  was  a  relipious  paper, 
and  the  readers  presumably  church 
members  1 " 


This  incident  throws  a  flash  of  elec- 
tric light— revealing  (1)  the  wide  spread- 
ing  of  this  evil  of  pernicious  reading. 
(2)  A  reason  why  it  is  so  much  easier  to 
publish  the  sensational  book  at  low 
rates  than  it  is  to  publish  the  standard 
book:  $1.25  invssted  in  advertising 
brings  over  one  hundred  orders  for  the 
one;  and  $60.00,  similarly  invested, 
brings  but  six  orders  for  the  other. 

These  facts  make  plain  why  we  must 
have  the  co-operation  of  the  clergy  and 
others  if  good  literature  is  to  be  pub- 
lished permanently  at  low  rates.  Bad 
literature  will  run  itself.  It  is  water 
going  down-hill.  Some  other  force 
than  gravity  must  pull  water  up-hill. 
The  force  that  will  make  cheap  good 
literature  permanently  possible  must 
be  generated  in  the  hearts  of  the  true 
educators  and  philanthropists,  devel- 
oped Christians. 


The  Educational  Effect  of  Good  Books. 


Books  beyond  anything  else  are  edu- 
cators of  the  people. 

The  intellectual,  social  and  moral 
character  of  a  people  must  be  largely 
an  outgrowth  of  their  reading.  The 
character  of  the  books  already  issued 
in  the  Standard  Library,  and  of  those 
now  announced  for  future  issue,  is  a 
sufficient  guarantee  that  the  educa- 
tional effect  of  a  general  reading  of  the 
books  comprising  this  Library  must 
prove  most  satisfactory. 

In  the  warfare  against  bad  literature 
our  motto  has  been  "CONQXJKB  BY  RE- 
PLACING." Mere  denunciation  is  of 
little  avail.  The  mind  must  be  filled. 
To  prove  to  the  people  that  the  books 
that  they  are  reading  are  worthless, 
and  often  vicious,  will  not  be  of  any 
permanent  advantage  unless  you  place 
in  their  hands  interesting  books  of 
positive  value.  Give  them  something 
else  to  think  about,  and  they  will  be 


easily  weined  from  worthless  trash. 
The  quality  of  the  matter  in  our 
library  is  always  standard.  Science, 
History,  Biography,  Essays,  and  Travels 
are  included  in  this  series.  The  educa- 
tional result  in  a  popular  distribution 
of  such  books  cannot  be  overesti- 
mated. Good  books  are  needed  at 
low  prices  to  stimulate  the  masses  to 
higher  attainments.  The  question  is 
— Shall  the  manhood  and  womanhood 
of  our  country  sink  to  the  standard  of 
the  Dime  Novel,  or  rise  to  that  of  the 
choi:est  literature  in  the  English  lan- 
guage? Why  should  any  waste  their 
spare  hours  over  third-rate  books,  when 
they  might  spend  them  with  the  great- 
est and  best  th.nkers  of  the  world  ? 

None  but  absolutely  new  books  get 
into  this  Library.  Hence  a  great 
feature  is  freshness.  Thus  there  is  no 
danger  that  a  subscriber  will  receive  a 
duplicate  of  a  book  he  already  has. 


268 


How  the  Advocates  of  Good  Cheap  Books 
Can  Help  Us. 


If  vigorously  sustained,  a  good  and 
lasting  result  will  be  secured. 

Unassisted  wa  can  do  little.  "We  can, 
at  most,  but  supply  ammunition  ;  the 
fighting  must  ba  done  by  the  clergy 
and  the  advocates  of  good  reading 
throughout  the  country. 

There  is  most  urgent  need  for  this 
reform.  If  net,  why  would  such  men 
as  Drs.  Hall,  Ezra  Abbott,  Mark  Hop- 
kins, Wm.  M.  Taylor,  and  scores  of 
others  of  representative  men  in  differ- 
ent spheres  of  life  and  parts  of  the 
country,  so  unanimously  and  enthusi- 
siastically  send  us  words  of  God- 
speed ? 

Is  not  this  enthusiastic  support  most 
reasonable  ? 

Bead  and  act  at  once.  To  accomplish 
the  work  this  enterprise  is  fitted  to  do, 


we  must  have  your  enthusiastic  and 
persistent  co-operation.  Hundreds  cf 
the  ablest  preachers  in  the  land  are 
giving  us  their  hearty  support. 
Many  of  them  have  not  deemed  it  out 
of  place  to  attack  the  bad  book  in  the 
pulpit  and  commend  the  good. 

You  can  do  us  effective  work  by  the 
distribution  of  descriptive  circulars  ; 
ui'ging  your  friends  to  purchase  the 
books ;  organizing  reading  circles  in 
your  neighborhoods,  and  in  many  other 
ways  that  will  readily  suggest  them- 
selves to  your  mind. 

The  price  of  subscription  for  the 
entire  2S  books  is  $5.00— $2.60  now. 
and  $2.50  July  2,  when  the  first  half 
of  the  series  will  be  completed. 

Can  you  not  secure  for  us  some  sub- 
scribers? Try  it. 


Representative  Clergymen  Heartily  Indorsing 
this  Plan. 

J.  P.   Newman,   D.D.,  New  York, 


Chas.  H.  Hall  D.  D.,  Holy  Trinity 

Euiscopal  Church,  Brooklyn,  says  : 

"In  tho  great  strife  for  the  greatest 

good  of  tho  largest  number,  put  me 

down    as    on    tbe  side    of    this  plan. 

Place  my  name  on  your  subscription 

list." 

Pres.    Mark    Hopkins,  13. D.,   of 

Williams  College,  says : 
"  The    attempt    is     worthy    of    all 
commendation    and     encouragement. 
It  will  be  a  great  boon  to  the  country." 

Ezra     Abo<t,   D.  D.,     L.L..D.,     of 

Harvard  College,  says : 
"  I  heartily  approve  of  your  project." 

T.  W.  Chambers,  D.D.,  Colle- 
giate Eeformed  Church,  New  YorK, 
says: 

"  Tbe  plan  sf-ems  to  me  both  praise- 
worthy and  feasible." 

Syives'e--  P.  >cov  1,  D.D.,  First 
I  re  ^byterian  Church,  Piitsburg, 
Pa.,  says : 

"  Your   plan  deserves  a  place  in  the 
category  of  moral  reforms." 


•'I  recommend  my  friends  to  sub- 
scribe for  1  he  twenty-six  books  to  be 
issued  within  the  coming  year.  ' 

Geo.   C.    Lio-im'r,   D.D.,   Baptist 

Church,  Chicago,  says  : 
"  I  sincerely  hope  your  endeavors  to 
circulate  a  wholesome  and    elevating 
class  of  books  will  prove  successful. 
Certainly,  clergymen  cannot  afford  that 
it  should  fail." 
Charles  W.  rushing,  D.D.,  First 

M.  E.    Church,  Rochester,    N.   Y., 

says  : 

"  I  have  been  deeply  interested  in 
your  effort  to  make  good  books  as  cheap 
as  lad  ones  I  mentioned  the  matter 
from  my  pu?pit.  Asa  result  I  at  ouce 
got  fi"ty-four  t-ubscribers  for  the  full 
set,  and  rnoro  to  come." 
J.  ".  P«ck,  D  11.4  First  M.  E. 

Cburch,  Brooklyn  N  V.,  says: 
"  Yourefforc  is  c  jmrnenuable      You 
ought  to  have  tlie  co  operation   of  all 
good  men.     It  is  a  moral,  heroic  and 
humane  enterprise." 


269 

.A.    O-IRIE.A.I? 


Young's  Analytical  Concordance 


ItJE&UCJED   TO  $2.50, 

IF-OIR,     .A.     ILiXiMIITIEID 


Dr.  Young  cannot  endure  to  have  this,  the  great  work  of  his  life,  Judged  by  the  un- 
authorized editions  with  which  the  American  market  Is  flooded.  These  editions,  ne  feels, 
do  hla  work  and  the  American  public  great  Injustice. 

That  Americans  may  he  able  to  see  the  work  as  printed  under  his  eye  and  from  his  own 
plates,  he  will  cell  gome  thousands  of  copies  at  ..... 

A  Great  Pecuniary  Sacrifice. 

The  Bale  at  the  reduced  prices  will  begin  March  1, 1883,  and  will  continue  until  the 
thousands  of  copies  set  apart  for  this  sale  are  exhausted.  This  fv  the  authorized,  latest 
reviied  and  unabridged  edition— in  every  respect  the  same  type,  paper,  binding,  etc.,  as  we 
have  sold  at  the  higher  prices. 

It  Is  a  burning  shame  that  the  great  life-work  of  one  of  the  most  eminent  scholars,  a 
work  pronounced  In  both  Europe  and  America  as  one  of  the  most  laborious  and  important 
that  this  century  has  produced,  embracing  nearly  1100  large  quarto  pages,  each  larger  and 
containing  more  matter  than  Webster's  Unabridged  Dictionary,  should  prove  a  great 
financial  loss  to  its  author  ! 

This  great  work  is  selling  in  England  at  $9,  and  ia  now  Imported  and  sold  in  America 

Orders  will  be  filled  in  the  order  received  up  to  the  time  of  the  exhaustion 
Of  the  stock. 


YOUNG'S  GREAT  CONCORDANCE. 

BO    HOT    BE    DECEIVER. 

There  is  but  one  authorized  and  correct  edition  of  Young's  Concordance  cold 
in  America.  Evvry  copy  of  this  edition  has  on  the  title-page  the  words 
"Authorized  Edition,"  aud  at  the  bottom  of  the  page  the  imprint 

NEW  YORK  :  FUNK  &  WAGNALLS.     EDINBURGH  :  GEORGE  ADAM  YOUNG  &  COMPANT. 

All  copies,  no  matter  by  whom  Bold,  that  have  not  these  words  printed  on  the  title-page 
are  printed  on  ttie  bungling  plates  made  by  the  late  American  Hook  Exchange. 

Dr.  YOTTXG  Bays :  "  This  unauthorized  American  edition  is  an  outrage  on  the  American 
public,  and  on  ine,  containing  gross  errors." 

Rev.  DR.  Jonx  HALL  eays : 

"  Dr.  Robert  Young's  Analytical  Concordance  is  worthy  of  the  lifetime  of  labor  he  has 
epent  upon  it.  I  deeply  regret  that  his  natural  and  just  expectation  of  some  return  from 
its  sale  on  this  side  or  the  ocean  Is  not  realized  ;  and  1  hope  the  sense  of  justice  to  a 
most  painstaking  author  will  lend  to  the  choice  by  many  purchasers  of  the  edition  which 
Dr.  loung  approves— that  of  Messrs.  FUNK  &  WAGNALLS,  with  whom  Dr.  Young  co- 
operates in  bringing  out  here  the  best  edition. 

••JXEWYouK.  JOHN  HALL." 

Do  not  be  deceived  by  misrepresentations.  Insist  that  your  bookseller  furnish  you  the 
Authorized  edition. 

REDUCED    PRICES: 

2100  quarto  pages  (each  larger  than  a  page  in  Webster'd  Unabridged  Dictionary),  Cloth,  $2  50 

Sheep 4  08 

French  im.  morocco 4  50 

Sent  post-free. 

FUNK  &  WAGNALLS,  10  &  12  Dey  Street,  New  York. 


210 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  FUNK  &•  WAGNALLS,  NEW  YORK. 


TALKS  TO  FARMERS. 

BY  CHARLES  H.  SPURGEON. 

300  pp.,  12mo,  Cloth,  $1.00. 

This  is  the  last,  and  one  of  the  best,  of  the  wonderful  productions 
of  the  fertile  pen  and  prolific  brain  of  Mr.  Spurgeon.  It  consists  of  a 
series  of  Talks  to  Farmers.  Each  Talk  is  a  short  sermon  from  a 
text  on  some  subject  concerning  agriculture.  Mr.  Spurgeon  is  as 
much  at  home  in,  and  as  familiir  with,  the  scores  of  nature  as  he  is 
with  the  stores  and  business  of  mighty  London. 

WHAT  IS  THOUGHT  OF  IT. 


Canadian  Bapt's*.  eays  :     "  Our 

readers  need  no  information  about  Mr. 
Spurgeon.  His  name  is  a  household 
word.  They  read  his  sermons  con- 
stantly. They  have  only  to  be  told  that 
something  new  of  his  has  appeared,  and 
they  are  eager  to  procure  and  read.  In 
nothing,  pernaps,  does  Mr.  Spurgeon's 
greatness  manifest  itself  mere  con- 
spicuously than  in  his  wonderful 
power  of  adapting  his  discourses  to  the 
needs  of  thuse  to  whrm  he  speaks. 
'John  Ploughman's  Talks '  and  '  John 
Ploughman's  Pictures'  are  admirable 
illustrations  of  this  power.  So  is  the 
"book  before  us.  It  will  be  especially 
interesting  to  farmers,  but  all  will  en- 
joy the  practical  common  sense,  the 
abundance  of  illustrative  anecdoto,  the 
depth  of  spiritual  insight,  the  richness 
of  ,niagery,  that  prevail  in  the  volume. 
The  subjects  of  the  different  chapters 
are:  'The  Sluggard's  Farm,'  -The 
Broken  Fence,'  'Frost  and  Thaw,' 


'The  Corn  of  Wheat  Dying  to  Bring 
Forth  Fruit,'  'The  Ploughman,' 
'Ploughing  the  Bock,'  'The  Parable 
of  the  Sower,'  '  The  Principal  Wh^at,' 
'  Spring  in  the  Heart,'  '  Farm  Labor- 
er .«,'  'What  the  Farm  Laborers  Can 
Do  and  What  They  Cannot  Do,'  '  The 
S'.ieep  before  the  Shearers,'  'In  tha 
Hay  Field/  'Spiritual  Gleaning,' 
'Meal  Time  in  the  Cornfield,'  'The 
Leading  Wagon,'  'Threshing,'  'The 
Wheat  in  the  Barn.'  Every  farmer 
ehould  read  this  book." 

The  Christian  Monitor,  St. 
Louis,  Mo.,  eays  :  "Most  interesting  and 
unique.  The  arguments  in  favor  of 
Christianity  are  able  and  convincing, 
and  there  is  not  a  dry  .uninteresting  line 
in  the  book;  the  distinguished  author 
presents  the  principles  of  religious  life 
in  a  novel  but  instructive  manner,  and 
the  garniture  of  truth  and  earnestness 
in  hi3  competent  hands  makes  the  book 
eminently  readable.  ' 


Codet's  Commentary  on  Homans. 

This  American  edition  is  edited  by  TALBOT  W.  CHAMBEKS,  D.D.     544 
large  octavo  pages.    Cloth,  $2.50. 


Howard  Crosby,  D.O.,  says : 
•s  I  consider  Godet  a  man  of  soundest 
learning  and  purest  orthodoxy." 

Thomas  Armitage,  D.D.,  says: 
"Especially  must  I  commend  the  fair, 
painstaking, thorough  and  devout  work 
of  Dr.  Godet.  All  his  works  are  wel- 
come to  every  true  thinker." 


Arthur  Brooks,  D.D.,  says : 
"  Any  one  acquainted  with  Godet  'a 
other  works  will  congratulate  himself 
that  the  same  author's  clear  logic  and 
deep  learning,  as  brought  to  bear  upon 
the  difficulties  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Ro- 
mans, are  to  be  made  accessible  through 
this  publication." 


The  above  w  >rks  will  be  sent  by  mj.il,  postage  paid,  on  receipt 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  FUNK  <£  WAGNALLS,  NEW  YORK.  271 

«'  The  most  important  and  practical  work  of  the  age  on  tlie 
Psalms/'— SCHAFF. 

SIX  VOLUMES  NOW  READY. 

-SPURGEON'S  GREAT  LIFE  WORK- 

THE   TREASURY   OF    DAVID! 

To  be  published  in  seven  octavo  volumes  of  about  470  pages  each, 
uniformly  bound,  and  making  a  library  of  3,300  pages, 

in  handy  form  for  reading  and  reference. 

It  is  published  simultaneously  with,  and  contains  the  exact  matter  of, 
the  English  Edition,  which  has  sold  at  $4.00  per  volume 
in  this  country— $28.00  for  the  work  when  com- 
pleted. Our  edition  is  in  every  way  pref- 
erable,   and   is    furnished    at 

ONE-HALF  THE  PRICE  OF 

THE  ENGLISH 

EDITION. 

Price,  Per  Vol.  $2X0. 

"Messrs.  Funk  &*  Wagnalls  have  entered  into  an  arrangement  with 
me  to  reprint  THE  TREASUR  Y  OF  DA  VID  in  the  United  States.  I 
have  every  confidence  in  them  that  they  -will  issue  it  correctly  and  worthily. 
It  has  been  the  great  literary  work  of  my  life,  and  I  trust  it  will  be  as 
kindly  received  in  America  as  in  England.  I  wish  for  Messrs.  Funk  sue- 
eess  in  a  venture  which  must  involve  a  great  risk  and  much  outlay. 

"Dec.  8,  iSSf.  C.  H.  SPURGE  ON." 

Volumes  I.,  II.,  HI.,  IV.,  Y.  and  VL  are  now  ready;  volume 
VII.,  which  completes  the  great  work,  is  now  under  the  hand  of  the 
author.  Subscribers  can  consult  their  convenience  by  ordering  all 
the  volumes  issued,  or  one  volume  at  a  time,  at  stated  intervals,  until 
the  set  is  completed  by  the  delivery  of  Volume  VII. 

From  the  brge  number  of  hearty  commendations  of  this  import- 
ant work,  we  give  the  following  to  indicate  the  value  set  upon  the 
same  by 

EMINENT  THEOLOGIANS  AND  SCHOLARS. 


Philip  Schaff,  O.».,the  Eminent 
Commentator  and  the  President  of  the 
American  Bible  Revision  Committee, 
•ays:  "  The  moat  important  and  prac- 


tical work  of  the  age  on  the  Psalter  ia 
'  The  Treasury  of  David,'  by  Charles  H 
Spurgeon.  It  is  full  of  the  force  and 
genius  of  this  celebrated  preaoher,  and 


(OVER.) 


'The  above  work*  -will  be  sent  by  mail,  postage  paid,  on  receipt  of  the prite. 


272 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  FUNK  &  WAGNALLS,  NEW  YORK. 


rich  in  selections  from  the  entire  range 
of  literature." 

Wi  liam     M.     Taylor,    ».D.» 

New  York  says:  '  In  the  exposition  of 
the  heart  'THE  TBEASUBy  OF  DAVID'  is 
*tu  gentris,  rich  in  experience  and  pre- 
eminently devotional.  The  exposition 
is  alwa\s  fresh.  To  the  preacher  it  is 
especially  suggestive." 

Jolm  Hall,  D.O.,  New  York, 
says:  -'There  are  two  questions  that 
must  interest  every  expositor  of  tha 
Divine  Word.  What  does  a  particular 
passage  mean,  and  to  what  use  is  it  to 
be  applied  in  public  teaching?  In  the 
department  of  the  latter  Mr.  Spur- 
geon's  great  work  on  the  Psalms  is 
without  an  equal.  Eminently  practical 
in  his  own  teaching,  he  has  collected  in 
these  volumes  the  best  thoughts  of  the 
best  minds  on  the  Psalter,  and  espe- 
cially of  that  great  bod y  .loosely  grouped 
together  as  the  Puritan  divines.  I  am 
heartily  glad  that  by  arrangements, 
satisfactory  to  all  concerned, tl  e  Messrs. 
Funk  &  Wa^nalls  are  to  bring  mis  great 
work  within  the  reach  ot  ministers 
everywhere,  as  the  English  edition  is 
necessarily  expensive.  I  wish  the 
highest  success  to  the  enterprise." 

William  Ormiston,  O.TJ.,  New 

York,  says:  "  I  consider  '  THE  TREASURY 
OF  DAVID'  a  work  of  surpassing  excel- 
lenee,of  inestimable  valus  to  every  stu- 
dent of  the  »  salter.  It  will  prove  a 
standard  work  on  the  Psalms  for  all 
time.  The  instructive  introductions, 
the  racy  original  expositions,  the 
numerous  qiaint  illustrations  gath- 
ered from  wide  and  varied  fields,  and 
the  suggestive  sermonio  hints,  render 
the  volumes  invaluable  to  allpreacheis, 
and  indispensable  to  every  minister's 
library.  All  who  delight  in  reading  the 
Psal-jus— and  what  Christian  does  not? 
—will  prize  this  wsrk.  It  is  a  rich 
cyclopaedia  of  the  literature  of  these 
ancient  odes." 

Theo.  Li.  rwyler,  D.D..  Brook- 
lyn, says:  "  I  have  use  1  Mr.  Spurgeon's 
•THE  TREASURY  OF  DAVID'  for  three 
yeara,  and  iound  it  worthy  of  its  name. 
Whoso  goe^hin  there  will  find  'rich 
spoils.'  At  both  my  visits  to  Mr.  S  he 
spoke  with  much  euthusiasm  of  this 
undertaking  as  one  of  his  favor. te 
methods  of  enriching  himself  and 
others." 

Jes*eB.  Thomas,  D.D  ,  Brook- 
lyn, says:  "  I  have  the  highest  concep- 


tion of  the  sterling  worth  of  all  Mr. 
Spurgeon's  publications,  and  I  incline 
to  regard  his  TBEASURY  OF  DAVID*  as 
having  received  more  of  his  loving 
labor  than  any  other,  I  regard  its 
publication  at  a  lower  price  as  a  great 
service  to  American  Bible  Students." 

New  York  Observer  says:  "  A 
rich  compendium  of  suggestive  com- 
ment upon  the  richest  devotional 
poetry  ever  given  to  mankind. ' 

The  Congregationalist,  Eos- 
ton,  says:  "  As  a  devout  and  spiritually 
suggestive  work,  it  is  meeting  with 
the  warmest  approval  and  receiving 
the  hearty  commendation  of  the  most 
distinguished  divines." 

United  Presbyterian,  Pitts- 
burg,  Pa.,  says:  "It  is  unapproached 
as  a  commentary  on  the  Psaluis.  It  is 
of  equal  value  to  ministers  and  lay- 
men—a quality  that  works  of  the  kind 
rarely  possess." 

North  American,  Philadelphia, 
Pa.:  says:  "Will  find  a  place  in  the 
library  of  every  minister  who  knows 
how  to  appreciate  a  good  thing." 

New  York  Independent  says: 
"  He  has  ransacked  evangelical  litera- 
ture,and  comes  forth,  like  Jessica  from 
her  father's  house,  'gilded  with 
ducats'  and  rich  plunder  in  the  shape 
of  good  and  helplul  quotations.' 

New  York  Tribune  says:  "For 
the  great  majority  of  readers  who  seek 
in  the  Psalms  those  practical  lessons 
in  which  they  are  so  rich,  and  those 
wonderful  interpretations  of  heart-life 
and  expression  of  emotion  in  which 
they  anticipate  Ihe  New  Testament,  we 
know  of  no  book  like  this,  nor  as  good. 
It  is  literally  a  «  Treasury.'  " 

S.  S.  Times  sa-s:  "Mr.  Fpurgeon's 
style  is  simple,  direct  and  perspicuous, 
otten  reminding  one  of  the  matchless 
prose  of  Bunyan." 

West*  rn Christian  Advo~a*e, 
Cincinnati,  O.,  says:  "The  price  is  ex- 
tremely moderate  for  so  large  and  im- 
portant a  work.  *  *  *  W-j  have  ex- 
amined this  volume  with  care,  and  we 
are  greatly  pleased  with  the  plan  of 
execution." 

Christian  Herald  says:  "  Con- 
tains more  felicitous  iliustrations, 
more  valuable  sermonic  hints,  than  can 
be  found  in  all  other  worka  on  the 
same  book  put  together." 


The  above  -works  will  be  sent  by  mail,  postage  paid,  on   receipt  of  tht  price. 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  FUNK  &  WAGNALLS,  NEW  YORK, 


273 


GEMS  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 

Fr^m  the  Writings  of  Dr.  Guthrie,  arranged  under 

the  subjects  which  they  illustrate. 

By  an  American  Clergyman. 

Price,  in  Cloth,  $1.50. 

This  book  abounds  in  picturesque  similes.  Dr.  Guthrie  has  rarely, 
if  ever,  been  equaled  either  in  the  number,  beauty  or  force  of  the 
illustrations  with  which  his  sermons  and  writings  abound.  They 
have  been  collected  by  an  American  clergyman,  a  great  admirer  of 
the  author,  and  the  book  forms  a  perfect  storehouse  of  anecdotes, 
comparisons,  examples  and  illustrations.  It  contains  the  choicest  of 
his  illustrations,  arranged  under  the  subjects  which  they  illustrate. 

Ike  L  >ndon  Times  says:  "  Dr.  Guthrie  is  the  most  elegant  orator  in 
Europe." 

Dr.  Candliah  says:  "Dr.  Guthrie's  genius  has  long  since  placed 
him  at  the  head  of  all  the  gifted  and  popular  preachers  of  our  day." 

Dr.  James  W.  Alexander  says  :  "I  listened  to  him  for  fifty  minutes, 
but  they  passed  like  nothing." 


The  Wea'ern  Christian  Ad- 
vocate says  :  "Dr.  Guthrie  was  pe- 
culiarly happy  in  the  use  of  brilliant 
and  forcible  illustrations  in  his  ser- 
mons and  writings.  An  American  has 
selected  many  of  these  gems  of  thought 
and  arranged  them  under  the  subjects 
which  they  illustrate.  Headers  and 
preachers  will  enjoy  them,  and  will  find 
many  beautiful  sentiments  and  seed- 
thoughts  for  present  and  future  use." 

The    Bo!>tnn    Sunday     Globe 

Bays  :  "Dr.  Guthrie's  illustrations  are 
rich  and  well  chosen  and  give  great 
force  to  his  ideas.  Love,  faith,  hope, 
charity  are  the  pillars  of  his  belief." 

The  Lutheran.  Observer,  Phila- 
delphia, says:  "The  power  of  illustra- 
tion should  be  cultivated  by  preachers 
of  the  Gospel,  anrt  this  volume  o:  speci- 
mens, if  used  aright,  will  furnish  valu- 
able suggestions.  A  good  illustration 
in  a  sermon  awakens  the  imagination, 
helps  the  memory  and  gives  the  barb 
to  truth  that  it  may  fasten  in  the 
heart." 


The  Christian  Jnf  ellig»nc<>r 

says  :  "  It  is  a  large  repository  full  of 
stirring  thoughts  set  in  those  splendid 
forms  of  '  spiritualized  imagination,'  of 
which  Dr.  Guthrie  was  the  peerless 
master.  * 

The  Chris*  Ian  Observer,  Louis- 
ville. says:  '•  No  words  of  ours  could 
add  to  its  value." 

The  Brtgt  »n  P  >*t  says:  "A  rare 
mine  of  literary  wealth." 

ThoOb4«>rv««r,  New  York,  says:  "It 
was  not  given  to  every  generation  to 
haveaGutnrie." 


TheChrs«i» 

York,  says:    "This  book  will  be  read 
with  interest  by  the  religious  world." 

The  Zion's  Heral  ',  Boston,  says: 
"Preachers  will  appreciate  this  vol- 
ume." 

The  Christian  Guardian.  To- 

ronto, says:  "An  exceedinglyinteresting 
and  valuable  work." 


The  above  works  will  be  sent  by  mail,  postage  paid,  on  receipt  of  the  price. 


274 


PUBLICATIONS  OF  FUNK  &*  WAGNALLS,  NEW  YuRfC. 


What  Our  Girls  Ought  to  Know. 

-BY- 
MARY  J.  STUDLEY,  M.  D. 

261  pp.,  12  mo.  Cloth  $1.00. 

A  most  practical  and  valuable  book;  should  bo  placed  in  the  hands  of  every 
girl. 

Intelligently  read,  it  will  accomplish  much  in  the  elevation  of  the  human  race. 

It  is  full  of  information  which  every  girl  ought  to  know. 

Parents,  Teachers,  Clergymen  and  others  who  have  tha  education  of  children, 
or  who  have  occasion  to  address,  in  sermon  or  lecture,  girls,  will  find  this  book 
•crammed  vrith  suggestiveness." 

The  authoress,  Mary  J.  Btudley,  M.  D.,  was  a  physician  of  large  practice  and 
great  success.  She  was  a  graduate,  resident  physician  and  teacher  ot  the  Natural 
Sciences  ia  the  State  Normal  School,  Framingham,  Mass.:  also  graduate  of  the 
Woman's  Medical  College,  New  York;  Dr.  Emily  Blackwell,  Secretary  of  the 
Faculty,  and  Dr.  Willard  Parker.  Chairman  of  the  Board  of  Examiners. 

IS  THOUGT  OF  IT. 

••  Sensi- 


ng *vr  York  World  says: 
able  essays  on  subjects  which  the  au- 
thor has  taught  in  the  schoolroom, 
written  in  a  style  that  IB  clear  and  pro- 
perly chosen  for  girls." 


Boston       Woman's 

says:  "It  derives  its  principal  value 
from  the  fact  that  Dr.  Studley  was  a 
firm  believer  in  the  possibility  and  duty 
of  so  regulating  the  details  of  every-day 
life  as  to  secure  and  preserve  physical 
health  and  rigor,  and  that  such  a  course 
is  essential  as  a  foundation  for  the 
bigher  moral  and  intellectual  develop- 
ment." 

Union  Argus,  Brooklyn,  says:  "It 


is  a  practical  book,  and  will  do  good  if 
thoughfully  read." 

Montreal  Paily  Witness  says: 
"  It  is  a  valuable  book  for  girls." 

Methodist  Recorder,  Pittsburg, 
rays:  "It  should  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  every  girl." 

Commercial,  Cincinnati,  says: 
•'  Dr.  Mary  Studley  was  a  gifted  woman. 
Her  knowledge  was  ripe.  The  book  is  a 
good  one." 

School  Journal,  New  York,  says: 
"Every  sensible  mother  will  wish  to 
place  a  book  like  this  in  her  daughter's 
Lands." 

Journal  of  Commerce,  New 
York,  says:  "  This  is  a  capital  book." 


TJUIS  ASD  STORIES  ABOUT  HEROES  ASD  HOLIDAYS. 

Price,  cloth,  illustrated,  $1.25.;  paper,  60  cents. 
This  book  contains  most  interesting  talks  to  boys  and  girls  by 
many  well-known  men,  such  as  Drs.  Cuyler,  Storrs,  Newton,  and 
others,  and  is  richly  illustrated  by  forty  new  cuts  and  many  inci- 
dent and  object-illustrations,  making  it  a  beautiful  gift  book.  The 
addresses  are  nearly  all  written  in  a  cheerful  and  happy  style. 

WHAT  IS  S*&II>  OF  IT. 


Illustrated  Christian  Weekly 

says:  "A  good  many  bright  and  suggest- 
ive things  will  be  found  herein." 

Central  Presbyt«*ri»n  says:  "A 
beautiful  present  for  a  child,  a  parent, 
a  teacher,  or  a  preacher.' 

The  Advance  says:  "The  ser- 
mons are  plain,  practical,  easily  under- 
stood and  full  of  illustration.  " 

Bible  'JVach«»r  says:  "A  very 
interesting  book  for  the  home  circle." 

American    Literary  Church- 


man says:  "Are  well  adapted  to  ar- 
rest  attention." 

Consrregntionalist  says:  "Spec" 
imens  of  the  work  which  many  pastors 
are  doins  week  by  week  for  the  children 
of  their  congregations." 

National  Gazette  says:  "Both 
edifying  and  entertaining." 

Gospel  in  All  T*«nd«  says: 
"  Brief,  racy  sermons  full  of  the  Gospel 
and  common  sense." 


Tht  above  works  will  be  sent  by  mailt  postage  paid,  on  receipt  of  the  priee. 


.275 

THE  STANDARD  LIBRARY, 

WHAT    REPRESENTATIVE    CLERGYMEN    SAY 

OF  IT. 


Chas.  K.   Hall,   D.D.,   Holy  Trinity  Episcopal  Church,  Brooklyn, 

says  : 

"  Great  book  monopolies,  like  huge  railroad  syndicates,  are  now  the  mo* 
narchical  relics  against  which  the  benevolence  and  radicalism  of  the  age, 
from  different  standpoints,  are  bound  to  wage  war.  Each  source  will  have 
its  own  motives  and  arguments,  but  each  will  resolve  to  conquer  in  the  long 
run.  At  one  end  of  the  scale  we  have  the  Life  of  Dickens  otf ered  for  $800, 
that  some  one  wealthy  man  may  enjoy  the  comfort  of  his  proud  privilege 
of  wealth  in  having  what  no  other  mortal  possesses  ;  at  the  other,  we  lind 
the  volume  offered  at  10  or  20  cents,  which  any  newsboy  or  thoughtful 
laborer  uses  in  common  with  thousands.  In  the  great  strife  for  the  great- 
est good  of  the  largest  number,  put  me  down  as  on  the  side  of  the  last.  I 
enclose  my  subscription  order  for  a  year." 

Rev.  Chas.  W.  Cashing,    D.D.,    First  M.  E.  Church,  Rochester, 

N.  Y.,  says : 

"One  of  the  most  pernicious  sources  of  evil  among  our  young  people 
Is  the  books  they  rend.  When  I  can  get  a  young  man  interested  in  substan- 
tial books,  I  have  great  hope  of  him.  For  this  reason  1  have  been  deeply 
interested  in  your  effort  to  make  good  books  as  cheap  as  bad  ones.  I  men- 
tioned the  matter  from  my  pulpit.  As  a  result  I  at  once  got  fifty -four  sub- 
scribers for  the  full  set,  and  more  to  come." 

J.  O.  Peck,  D.D.,  First  M.  E.  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y.,  says: 

"  Your  effort  is  commendable.  You  ought  to  have  the  co-operation  of 
all  good  men.  It  is  a  moral,  heroic,  and  humane  enterprise." 

Pres.  Mark  Hopkins,  D.D.,  of  Williams  College,  says: 

"The  attempt  of  Messrs.  Funk  and  Wagnalls  to  place  good  literature 
•within  reach  of  the  masses  is  worthy  of  all  commendation  and  encourage- 
ment. If  the  plan  can  be  successfully  carried  out,  it  will  be  a  great  boon. 
to  the  country." 

Geo.  C.  Lorrimer,  D.D.,  Baptist  Church,  Chicago,  says : 

"  I  sincerely  hope  your  endeavors  to  circulate  ft  wholesome  and  elevat- 
ing class  of  books  will  prove  successful.  Certainly,  clergymen,  and  Chris- 
tians generally,  cannot  afford  that  it  should  fail.  "In  proof  of  my  personal 
interest  in  your  endeavors,  I  subscribe  for  a  year." 

J.  P.  Newman,   D.D.,  New  York,  says: 

"  I  have  had  faith  from  the  beginning  in  the  mission  of  Messrs.  Funk  «fe 
Wagualls.  It  required  great  faith  on  their  part,  and  their  success  is  in 
proof  that  all  things  are  possible  to  him  that  believeth.  They  have  done 
for  the  public  what  long  was  needed,  but  what  other  publishers  did  not 
venture  to  do." 

Henry  J.  Van  Dyke,  D.D.,  Presbyterian  Church,  Brooklyn,  N.  Y., 
says: 

"  Good  books  are  great  blessings.  They  drive  otit  darkness  by  letting 
In  light.  Your  plan  wight  not  to  fail  for  labk  of  support.  Put  my  name 
on  tne  liat  of  subscribers." 


276 

T.  W.  Chambers,  D.D.,  Collegiate  Reformed  Church,  New  York,  says: 
"  The  plan  seems  to  me  both  praiseworthy  and  feasible.    I  trust  it  will 
meet  with  speedy  and  abundant  success." 

Sylvester  F.  Scovel,  D.D.,    First  Presbyterian  Church,    Pittsburgh, 
Pa.,  says  : 

"Your  plans  deserve  a  place  in  the  category  of  moral  reforms.  The 
foes  they  meet,  the  width  of  the  battle-ground  they  can  be  expanded  to 
cover,  tiie  manifold  incidental  blessings  they  may  convey  to  thousands  of 
households,  the  national  and  international  currents  of  thought  they  may 
set  in  motion,  entitle  them  beyond  all  question  to  prompt  and  efficient  aid 
from  clergy mea  and  the  whole  Christian  Church." 

Ezra  Abbot,  D.D.,  JLL.D.,  of  Harvard  College,  says: 

"I  heartily  approve  of  your  project.  I  shall  be  glad  to  receive  and 
commend  the  volumes  to  buyers.  I  send  you  my  subscription." 

Thos.  Armitage,   D.D.,  Fifth  Avenue  Baptist    Church,  New  York, 
eays : 

"  Your  plan  is  grand  and  philanthropic.  I  wish  you  success,  and  ask 
you  to  put  me  down  for  one  set,  with  the  assurance  that  I  will  aid  you  by 
every  kind  word  which  opportunity  suggests." 

William  M.  Taylor,  D.D.,  Broadway  Tabernacle,  New  York,  says  : 

"  The  success  of  the  plan  depends  very  much  on  the  character  of  th» 
books  selected  ;  but  if  you  are  wise  in  that  particular,  as  I  have  no  doubt, 
you  will  be  benefactors  to  many  struggling  readers  in  whose  experience  a 
new  book  is  one  of  the  rarest  treats.  I  am  glad  to  see,  too,  that  you  are 
making  arrangements  with  the  English  publishers,  BO  that  in  conferring 
a  boon  upon  readers  here  you  will  not  be  doing  injustice  to  authors  across 
the  sea." 

James  Eells,  D.D.,  Lane  Theological  Seminary,  Cincinnati,  O.,  says  : 
"  From  the  reputation  of  your  house  I  am  ready  to  believe  that  you  will 
publish  only  worthy  books.    I  heartily  wish  you  success." 

E.  J.  Wolf,  D.D.,  of  the  Lutheran  Seminary,  Gettysburg,  Pa.,  says: 

"  A  more  laudable  project  I  can  hardly  conceive  of.  Vicious  literature 
has  long  had  the  advantage  in  that  it  was  put  within  easy  reach  of  the 
masses.  The  poverty  of  many  who  fain  would  use  the  very  best  books  has 
often  distressed  me.  I  feel  in  my  heart  that  the  noble  enterprise  of  your 
housti  is  deserving  of  the  most  liberal  encouragement." 

Bishop  Samuel  Fallows,   Reformed  Episcopalian  Church,  Chicago, 

says : 

"Your  plan  for  supplying  the  masses  with  the  best  reading  at  such  a 
nominal  price  cannot  be  too  highly  commended." 

J.  L.  Barrows,  D.D.,  Baptist  Church,  Norfolk,  Va.,  says  : 

"  Every  endeavor  to  supersede  poison  by  food  for  the  people  deserves 
encouragement." 

Rev.  W.  F.  Crafts,  Lee  Avenue  Congregationalist  Church,  Brooklyn, 

suys  : 

"In  the  West  they  displace  the  worthless  prairie  grass  by  sowing  blue 
grass.  The  soil  is  too  rich  to  be  inactive.  It  will  have  a  right  or  wrong 
activity.  So  about  the  love  of  reading  in  the  young.  It  is  prime  soil  and 
will  heVtall  wire  grass  if  vro  do  not  give  it  blue  grass.  It  will  have  bad 
reading,  if  the  good,  equally  cheap  and  attractive,  is  not  provided." 


THE    STANDARD    SERIES. 

Best    Books    for    a,    Trifle. 

THESE  books  are  printed  in  readable  type,  on  fair  paper,  and  are  bound  in  postal 
card  manilla. 

These  books  are  printed  wholly  without  abridgment,  except  Canon  Farrar's  "Life 
of  Christ "  and  his  "Life  of  Paul." 


No.  Price. 

1.  John  Ploughman's  Talk.     C.  H. 
Spurgeon.    On  Choice  of  Books. 
Thomas  Carlyle.    4to.    Both $012 

2.  Manliness   of    Christ.     Thomas 
Hughes.    4to 10 

3.  Essays.    Lord  Macaulay.    4to...        15 

4.  Light  of  Asia.  Edwin  Arnold.  4to.        15 

5.  Imitation  of  Christ.    Thomas  a 
Kempis.    4to 15 

6-7.  Life  of  Christ.    Canon  Farrar. 

4to 50 

8.  Essays.    Thomas  Carlyle.    4fo..        20 
9-10.  Life  and  Work  of  St.   Paul. 

Canon  Farrar.    4to   2  parts,  both       50 
11.  Self-Culture.    Prof .  J.  8.  Blackie. 

4to.    2  parts,  both 10 

12-19.  Popular  History  of  England. 

Chas.  Knight.    4to 280 

20-21.  Raskin's  Letters  to  Workmen 

and  Laborers.   4to.    2  parts,  both        30 

22.  Idyls  of  the  King.    Alfred  Tenny- 
son.   4to 20 

23.  Life  of  Rowland  Hill.    Rev.  V.  J. 
Charlesworth.    4t  o 15 

24.  Town  Geology.    Charles  Kings- 
ley.    4to 15 

25.  Alfred  the  Great.    Thos.  Hughes. 

4to 20 

26.  Orfdoor  Life  in  Europe.    Rev.  E. 
P.Thwing.    4to 20 

27.  Calamities  of  Authors.    I.  D'ls- 
raeli.    4to 20 

28.  Salon  of  Madame  Necker.    Part  I . 

4to 15 

29.  Ethics  of  the  Dust.   JohnRuskin. 

4to 15 

20-31.  Memories  of  My  Exile.  Louis 

Kossuth.  4fo 40 

32.  Mister  Horn  and  His  Friends. 

Illustrated.  4to 15 

33-34.  Orations  of  Demosthenes.  4to.  40 

35.  Frondes  Agrestes.     John  Rus- 

kin.    4to 15 

36.  Joan  of  Arc.    Alphonse  de  La- 
martine.    4to 10 

37.  Thoughts  of  M.  Aurelius  Anto- 
ninus.   4to 15 

38.  Salou  of  Madame  Necker.    Part 

II.     4to 15 

39.  The  Hermits.  Chas.  Kingsley.  4tn.       15 

40.  John  Ploughman's  Pictures.     C. 

H.  Spnnreon.    4to 15 

41.  Pulpit  Table-Talk.    Dean  Ram- 

pny.    4to 10 

42.  Bible   and   Newspaper.      C.    H. 
Rpurgeon.    4to 15 

43.  Lacon.    Rev.  C.  C.  Colton.    4to.  20 


No.  Price. 

44.  Goldsmith's  Citizen  of  the  World. 

4to $0  20 

45.  America  Revisited.    George  Au- 
gustus Sala.    4to 20 

46.  Life  of  C.  H.  Spurgeon.    8vo....        20 

47.  John  Calvin.    M.  Uuizot.    4to...        15 
48-49.  Dickens'     Christinas    Books. 

Illustrated.    8vo 50 

50.  IShnirp's  Culture  and  Religion.  8vo.     15 
51-52.  Godot's  Commentary  on  Luke. 
Ed.  by  Dr.  John  Hall.  8vo,2parts, 

both 2  00 

53.  Diary  of  a  Minister's  Wife.    Part 

I.  Bvo 15 

54-57.  Van  Doren's  Suggestive  Com- 
mentary on  Luke.    New  edition, 
enlarged.    8yo 3  00 

58.  Diary  of  a  Minister's  Wife.    Part 

II.  8vo 15 

59.  The  Nutritive  Cure.    Dr.  Robert 
Walter.    8vo 15 

60.  Sartor   Resartue.     Thomas   Car- 
lyle.   4to 25 

61-62.  Lothair.     Lord   Beacousfleld. 

8vo 50 

63.  The  Persian  Queen   and  Other 
Pictures    of    Truth.     Rev.  E.  P. 
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